With all the Spirit Gems, Link returns to Spirit Island to complete upgrades on his spirits. Leaf gets even more damage, Ciela allows better sword beams, and Neri… I guess absorbs even more damage? Given that taking damage hasn’t been a problem and I prefer to run Link into melee for jump attacks so sword beams aren’t much use, I stuck with Leaf the whole time. On Zauz’s Island, Zauz takes the three pure metals and begins forging a sword, but it’s going to take a while so Link has to scuttle off to find something to entertain him in the meantime.
A perfect opportunity comes in the mail: Jolene challenges Link to one final confrontation. Link seeks her out, and she’s honed her skills. She doesn’t leave herself open as long after missing a big attack, and picks up her sword after being disarmed the first time, but she’s still no match for Link. She’s apparently concerned that Link’s quest to stop Bellum is doomed and trying to dissuade him, but Link’s determined to see it through. And she knows Linebeck’s been hiding in a box. Once she’s gone, Linebeck explains their history: He accidentally saved her from a sea monster, and she mistook him for a hero, so they traveled together for a while. Then he realized he couldn’t keep up with her, so he stole something from her and ran off. All the while apparently oblivious to the fact that she was in love with him.
The diversion with Jolene accomplished its goal: Zauz had time to forge the Phantom Sword’s blade. But Oshus needs to make the hilt, so Link takes it to him. (Oshus swings it around, causing Link to scream and duck.) He takes the Phantom Hourglass – with no patience for Link’s Item Get! presentation – and turns it into the hilt of the Phantom Sword. Link takes the completed sword, and the theme usually associated with drawing the Master Sword from its pedestal plays. (The Phantom Sword itself is modeled after the Master Sword, so it’s not too out of place.) In addition to being able to fight Bellum, there are other powers of the Phantom Sword that Ciela has yet to unlock. Linebeck stops Link and Ciela on the way to the temple with a few encouraging words of his own.
Having the Phantom Sword completely changes the Temple of the Ocean King, because Link can now kill the Phantoms. The hammer is also very useful because its impact catches the notice of the Phantoms who come to investigate, and Link can hide out in a safe zone, wait for them to come over and turn their back to him, and whack them. The hammer can also kill Phantom Eyes around corners. A treasure chest appears on each floor when all the Phantoms are defeated, containing treasure, ship parts, and rupees. That said, the first nine levels really aren’t that different aside from maybe trying to kill all the Phantoms. (Annoyingly, killing the Phantoms on the seventh level puts the treasure over on the west side, which can only be gone back to by going down to the eighth floor and back.)
On the lowest floors, the Gold Phantoms teleporting to Link’s location means all he has to do to kill them is get spotted just outside a safe zone, run into the safe zone, and jump out to stab them as they teleport in. These last floors also have some of the hammer tricks from Mutoh’s Temple; rusted floor switches appear, and Link can basically skip the eleventh level by running to the nearby open staircase down and catapulting himself out of the enclosed area of the twelfth floor. The final level, empty before, now has three sets of three Phantoms – one set of each type – for Link to kill as a final test.
The next room of the Temple is safe, with a bridge. As Link runs across, the torches on either side of the bridge light up. Once he makes it to the other side, an earthquake causes the bridge to collapse behind him, seemingly indicating there’s no way back – but a portal appears leading back to the temple’s entrance. This gives Link a chance to collect the treasures marked by the maps he got on this final run, and he can repeatedly run the Temple to earn more treasure (there’s a reward of two random ship parts for re-completing it). Also, by careful use of time refunds – including grabbing the last one immediately before running through the final door – it’s possible to get both the halfway checkpoint time and the final time down to zero seconds.
When Link’s ready, he doesn’t have to go through the whole Temple again; the portal he took from the end left a return portal. Link goes through the portal and heads up the long staircase to fight Bellum.
Next: Linebeck’s moment of glory and Link’s awakening.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Cobble Kingdom
There are two main islands in the northeastern sea, both surrounded by rocks. The only way though one circle is blocked by a cyclone, so Link starts on the other island, the Isle of the Dead. In a cave near the dock, Link and Ciela find journals written by an explorer who came to the island looking for the Cobble Kingdom. The important hint here is the shape of the island: a man wearing a crown, seen in profile. He also notes there’s supposed to be a treasure in the cave, which Link finds by bombing a wall and passing through a Rupoor maze: two ship parts, a treasure chart, and a Courage Gem.
Enemies in this part of the world include Rupee Likes (which had me throwing the boomerang at all stray rupees – actual rupees get picked up, Rupee Likes don’t), Stalfos, and rolling boulders that seem to know which way I’m going to dodge. The temple in the northeast has a repeating series of rooms that can only be solved by learning the path from the sages in the graveyard. Getting to the graveyard involves digging in a particular spot, passing through a tunnel (getting a Power Gem along the way), and shooting an arrow at a switch to open the gate. The sages’ gravestones indicate the path through the temple, allowing Link to meet a knight of the Cobble Kingdom, Brant. Along the way, he finds the remains of the explorer whose journals he read in the cave. Brant, sympathetic to Link’s quest, allows Link to take a Regal Necklace, which will get him through the cyclone to the Isle of Ruins.
The Isle of Ruins is a series of mazes, puzzles, traps, and monsters Link has to pass through, meeting the other three Cobble Kingdom knights along the way. Bremeur guards a seal that keeps the island partially flooded, so he sends Link to get the key from Doylan. With the key, Link returns to Bremeur and opens the seal, opening the way to Max, who opens the way to the temple, with a final test: Link needs to learn a sacred crest to draw on the door to enter. This involves going back to the maze at the start, which is different now that it’s no longer flooded, and reading the tablets in the area which Link couldn’t get to before. Having learned the crest (a square with the bottom triangle cut out), Link returns to the final door and opens it. While solving the island’s puzzles, Link finds a Courage Gem, a Power Gem, and the last two Wisdom Gems.
Mutoh’s Temple is more of the same, with puzzles, trap doors, Stalfos, and Rupee Likes. Terrorpins show up here, along with floor switches that have rusted so Link can’t budge them with his weight. These foreshadow the treasure item: the hammer, which is technically wielded by Ciela (so it can hammer anywhere within Link’s line of sight, or around corners if you drag the stylus), and can be charged up for a mega-smash (although I don’t think I found any use for this ability). After finding the hammer, Link finds catapults he can stand on and hit the trigger with the hammer to go flying up to higher levels and/or over obstacles. The hammer can also destroy Stalfos in a single shot. Finally for hammer tricks, there are several puzzles with red/blue floor tiles that flip when an adjacent tile is struck and Link needs to make them all a certain color or match a pattern. The main level of the dungeon has several puzzles involving flooding and draining the floor. The last Courage Gem is in the dungeon.
The boss is Eox, Ancient Stone Soldier, a giant golem. The boss is covered in red spots, which are its weak points. There are four catapults in the room Link can use to fling himself into the air, and while airborne, have Ciela smash the weak points with the hammer. As he does so, the exterior falls away, revealing the wooden skeleton, which has four weak points. Link needs to hit these in rapid succession (basically during one flight) to break down the frame, leaving just the head. In the final phase, Link uses the catapults to fling himself onto Eox’s head, where its final weak point is. Finally, Eox explodes into golden sand, which Link collects in the Phantom Hourglass.
In the lowest level of the temple, Link meets the ghost of King Mutoh. Now that Eox has been destroyed, peace will return to the ruins of the Cobble Kingdom, and Mutoh and his knights can sleep again. He gives Link the Aquanine so that he can help the Ocean King, and Link finally has the materials needed to make a Phantom Sword to destroy Bellum. Before Mutoh returns to sleep, he also sends Link the last Power Gem.
Most of the dungeons in the game have felt kind of uninspired, like they saved all the good stuff for the Temple of the Ocean King. (Also, they’ve all been really easy, like they never took the training wheels off.) But I really liked this one, along with exploring the islands that led to it, and the boss was incredibly fun. (That’s right: They made a dungeon with water level puzzles my favorite in the game.)
Next: Revenge!
Enemies in this part of the world include Rupee Likes (which had me throwing the boomerang at all stray rupees – actual rupees get picked up, Rupee Likes don’t), Stalfos, and rolling boulders that seem to know which way I’m going to dodge. The temple in the northeast has a repeating series of rooms that can only be solved by learning the path from the sages in the graveyard. Getting to the graveyard involves digging in a particular spot, passing through a tunnel (getting a Power Gem along the way), and shooting an arrow at a switch to open the gate. The sages’ gravestones indicate the path through the temple, allowing Link to meet a knight of the Cobble Kingdom, Brant. Along the way, he finds the remains of the explorer whose journals he read in the cave. Brant, sympathetic to Link’s quest, allows Link to take a Regal Necklace, which will get him through the cyclone to the Isle of Ruins.
The Isle of Ruins is a series of mazes, puzzles, traps, and monsters Link has to pass through, meeting the other three Cobble Kingdom knights along the way. Bremeur guards a seal that keeps the island partially flooded, so he sends Link to get the key from Doylan. With the key, Link returns to Bremeur and opens the seal, opening the way to Max, who opens the way to the temple, with a final test: Link needs to learn a sacred crest to draw on the door to enter. This involves going back to the maze at the start, which is different now that it’s no longer flooded, and reading the tablets in the area which Link couldn’t get to before. Having learned the crest (a square with the bottom triangle cut out), Link returns to the final door and opens it. While solving the island’s puzzles, Link finds a Courage Gem, a Power Gem, and the last two Wisdom Gems.
Mutoh’s Temple is more of the same, with puzzles, trap doors, Stalfos, and Rupee Likes. Terrorpins show up here, along with floor switches that have rusted so Link can’t budge them with his weight. These foreshadow the treasure item: the hammer, which is technically wielded by Ciela (so it can hammer anywhere within Link’s line of sight, or around corners if you drag the stylus), and can be charged up for a mega-smash (although I don’t think I found any use for this ability). After finding the hammer, Link finds catapults he can stand on and hit the trigger with the hammer to go flying up to higher levels and/or over obstacles. The hammer can also destroy Stalfos in a single shot. Finally for hammer tricks, there are several puzzles with red/blue floor tiles that flip when an adjacent tile is struck and Link needs to make them all a certain color or match a pattern. The main level of the dungeon has several puzzles involving flooding and draining the floor. The last Courage Gem is in the dungeon.
The boss is Eox, Ancient Stone Soldier, a giant golem. The boss is covered in red spots, which are its weak points. There are four catapults in the room Link can use to fling himself into the air, and while airborne, have Ciela smash the weak points with the hammer. As he does so, the exterior falls away, revealing the wooden skeleton, which has four weak points. Link needs to hit these in rapid succession (basically during one flight) to break down the frame, leaving just the head. In the final phase, Link uses the catapults to fling himself onto Eox’s head, where its final weak point is. Finally, Eox explodes into golden sand, which Link collects in the Phantom Hourglass.
In the lowest level of the temple, Link meets the ghost of King Mutoh. Now that Eox has been destroyed, peace will return to the ruins of the Cobble Kingdom, and Mutoh and his knights can sleep again. He gives Link the Aquanine so that he can help the Ocean King, and Link finally has the materials needed to make a Phantom Sword to destroy Bellum. Before Mutoh returns to sleep, he also sends Link the last Power Gem.
Most of the dungeons in the game have felt kind of uninspired, like they saved all the good stuff for the Temple of the Ocean King. (Also, they’ve all been really easy, like they never took the training wheels off.) But I really liked this one, along with exploring the islands that led to it, and the boss was incredibly fun. (That’s right: They made a dungeon with water level puzzles my favorite in the game.)
Next: Revenge!
Monday, August 26, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Northeastern Sea
Link now has 21 minutes to navigate the Temple of the Ocean King all the way to the bottom. With two new items at his disposal, pretty much every floor he’d previously visited is somehow different. There’s a Courage Gem he can get on the first floor by shooting an eye switch from a grappling hook tightrope and a chest with a Wisdom Gem appears on the second floor when a switch is hit by a bombchu. Floor three is totally different – Link can completely skip rounding up Force Gems and just slingshot his way to a different exit. Bombchus can open up an alternate exit on floor four that lets Link skip most of floor five. (Floor six is the same as before, but it’s “run to the door, draw the symbol, leave”; not much to do to make that simpler.) I did the same thing as before – one run to explore, one for reaching the checkpoint as fast as possible, and got my checkpoint time down to 45 seconds.
With the extra items, Link is able to do the next set of floors without backtracking. The grappling hook lets him cross from the west to the east side of the seventh floor, getting the crystal there on his first visit. On the eighth floor, a bombchu can hit a switch without Link needing to bring a crystal up from the ninth floor. So, Link can grab the crystal from the seventh floor, carry it down two levels, and have all the crystals without needing to backtrack once. There’s also a Power Gem Link can get on the seventh floor. (One more shortcut that I didn’t use: Link can get a key on the third floor that he no longer has to use to get a Force Gem, and use it on a door here to get a faster exit from the seventh floor and some extra time from a yellow pot where he comes in on the eighth floor. However, using the checkpoint exit takes away the key.)
When Link puts the crystals in the pedestals in the right order, the safe room becomes an elevator, leading him down to the tenth floor. (Ever helpful, Ciela notes the rumbling of the safe room moving, and that we’re in a different place than we were before.) The Phantoms on these last floors are gold, and move like the normal blue Phantoms – but if Link is spotted, they teleport to his location. The tenth floor lets Link kill the Phantoms by smashing them with rolling boulders, then navigate a central maze filled with Phantom Eyes to reach the exit at the center. The eleventh floor has an exit right near the entrance – but the area it leads to on the twelfth floor has no way out with the items Link has. So, he has to solve a puzzle involving stepping on four floor switches to open the other way forward. (One of the skeletons on this floor gripes about not being able to use the D-Pad. Surprised he made it this far.)
The twelfth floor has another Force Gem puzzle, with one Phantom patrolling a central area carrying one of the Gems. The other two are in chests, and as soon as Link opens each chest, another Phantom spawns nearby. Plus placing the first two Force Gems causes Wizzrobes to spawn (although if Link simply tosses the Force Gems into the safe area and waits to place them until they’re all there, the Wizzrobes aren’t a concern). The final floor is weird – the timer still counts down, but there are no Phantoms or other enemies or even hazards, and there’s a red pot Link can use to make a safe zone. More importantly for now, the northeast quadrant map is here, so Link can finally explore the full sea.
The northeast quadrant has the final Golden Frog to give Link a warp symbol. There’s also another Traveler’s Ship, this one overrun by monsters. Once they’re gone, the ship’s owner, the Man of Smiles, comes down, and as a reward, gives Link a treasure chart and the Hero’s New Clothes, starting a trading sequence. The Hero’s New Clothes go to the hero on the Prince of Red Lions, in exchange for a kaleidoscope he jokes was a gift from his sister. The kaleidoscope goes to the Ho Ho Tribe in exchange for a guard notebook, which goes to Nyave for a Wood Heart. Searching the seas, Link finds another Traveler’s Ship in the southeast, this one run by the Old Wayfarer, who’s looking for more food because he didn’t realize mermaids ate so much. He takes the Wood Heart and invites Link to visit him on Bannan Island, where he gives Link the Swordsman’s Scroll, teaching him the Great Spin Attack.
Link can revisit the Man of Smiles; the reward for saving his ship again is a Prize Postcard Link can send off in the mail to enter a drawing. It’s better to lose this drawing – the consolation prize is a ship part, while there’s no prize for winning. I “won” three of the four days I tried. It’s not worth it.
The uncharted island in the northeast quadrant is Maze Island, where Link is challenged to solve a maze, hitting gossip stones en route to the prize chests in the center. There are three levels of difficulty, and prizes are a Wisdom Gem, a treasure chart, and a heart container, along with another Wisdom Gem Link can get along the way. Finally, Link can salvage a bunch of treasures, including two new maps from the game on Harrow Island, and two that are technically in the northwest quadrant but only accessible by coming over from the northeast.
Next: Raiders of the lost kingdom.
With the extra items, Link is able to do the next set of floors without backtracking. The grappling hook lets him cross from the west to the east side of the seventh floor, getting the crystal there on his first visit. On the eighth floor, a bombchu can hit a switch without Link needing to bring a crystal up from the ninth floor. So, Link can grab the crystal from the seventh floor, carry it down two levels, and have all the crystals without needing to backtrack once. There’s also a Power Gem Link can get on the seventh floor. (One more shortcut that I didn’t use: Link can get a key on the third floor that he no longer has to use to get a Force Gem, and use it on a door here to get a faster exit from the seventh floor and some extra time from a yellow pot where he comes in on the eighth floor. However, using the checkpoint exit takes away the key.)
When Link puts the crystals in the pedestals in the right order, the safe room becomes an elevator, leading him down to the tenth floor. (Ever helpful, Ciela notes the rumbling of the safe room moving, and that we’re in a different place than we were before.) The Phantoms on these last floors are gold, and move like the normal blue Phantoms – but if Link is spotted, they teleport to his location. The tenth floor lets Link kill the Phantoms by smashing them with rolling boulders, then navigate a central maze filled with Phantom Eyes to reach the exit at the center. The eleventh floor has an exit right near the entrance – but the area it leads to on the twelfth floor has no way out with the items Link has. So, he has to solve a puzzle involving stepping on four floor switches to open the other way forward. (One of the skeletons on this floor gripes about not being able to use the D-Pad. Surprised he made it this far.)
The twelfth floor has another Force Gem puzzle, with one Phantom patrolling a central area carrying one of the Gems. The other two are in chests, and as soon as Link opens each chest, another Phantom spawns nearby. Plus placing the first two Force Gems causes Wizzrobes to spawn (although if Link simply tosses the Force Gems into the safe area and waits to place them until they’re all there, the Wizzrobes aren’t a concern). The final floor is weird – the timer still counts down, but there are no Phantoms or other enemies or even hazards, and there’s a red pot Link can use to make a safe zone. More importantly for now, the northeast quadrant map is here, so Link can finally explore the full sea.
The northeast quadrant has the final Golden Frog to give Link a warp symbol. There’s also another Traveler’s Ship, this one overrun by monsters. Once they’re gone, the ship’s owner, the Man of Smiles, comes down, and as a reward, gives Link a treasure chart and the Hero’s New Clothes, starting a trading sequence. The Hero’s New Clothes go to the hero on the Prince of Red Lions, in exchange for a kaleidoscope he jokes was a gift from his sister. The kaleidoscope goes to the Ho Ho Tribe in exchange for a guard notebook, which goes to Nyave for a Wood Heart. Searching the seas, Link finds another Traveler’s Ship in the southeast, this one run by the Old Wayfarer, who’s looking for more food because he didn’t realize mermaids ate so much. He takes the Wood Heart and invites Link to visit him on Bannan Island, where he gives Link the Swordsman’s Scroll, teaching him the Great Spin Attack.
Link can revisit the Man of Smiles; the reward for saving his ship again is a Prize Postcard Link can send off in the mail to enter a drawing. It’s better to lose this drawing – the consolation prize is a ship part, while there’s no prize for winning. I “won” three of the four days I tried. It’s not worth it.
The uncharted island in the northeast quadrant is Maze Island, where Link is challenged to solve a maze, hitting gossip stones en route to the prize chests in the center. There are three levels of difficulty, and prizes are a Wisdom Gem, a treasure chart, and a heart container, along with another Wisdom Gem Link can get along the way. Finally, Link can salvage a bunch of treasures, including two new maps from the game on Harrow Island, and two that are technically in the northwest quadrant but only accessible by coming over from the northeast.
Next: Raiders of the lost kingdom.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Isle of Frost
The other major island in the southeast quadrant is surrounded by a ring of ice. It even appears on the map, and as long as it’s there, the SS Linebeck can’t dock on the island. As the ship approaches, Linebeck suggests circling around the island and blasting the ice with the cannon. Each section of ice takes a few hits to destroy, and once it’s all gone, a docking port appears on the Isle of Frost.
The island is home to two tribes of people. The ones near the docking port are the Anouki, who have antlers and wear fur-lined hooded coats. They don’t get along with the Yook, and split the island between them. However, the chief says a Yook has snuck over to the Anouki side, taken one of the villagers, and has been pretending to be that villager and living among the Anouki. And so, in order for Link to get to the temple and get the island’s pure metal, the chief wants Link to find the Yook imposter and kick him out. The hint he gives is that Yook are liars, while apparently Anouki are honest.
Ciela apparently doesn’t trust the chief, and her warning combined with the fact that the Anouki seem to really dislike the Yook put my senses on edge for a revelation that the Yook are the good guys and we just happened to meet the Anouki first. But there’s no other way forward at the moment, so Link heads up to the village and starts talking to people. Some of the villagers say that others in the village are honest, while the rest suggest that others are liars. Examining the hints Link’s gotten, it becomes apparent that if only one of them is lying, it’s Aroo. When Link confronts him, Ciela tries to convince him to leave peacefully, but her squeaky voice “drives [him] wild,” causing him to revert to his natural yetiesque Yook form. The Yook wants to eat Ciela, saying she looks tasty, and Ciela says she’s not (“I’m yellow [1], but I don’t taste anything like a delicious fruit!”). The Yook ends up blowing Link and Ciela out of Aroo’s home and escaping.
The chief opens up the way to the Great Ice Field, where the Yook live (Link’s ambivalent about revenge, but Ciela’s up for it). As Link heads over, a stone has a message explaining the Yook’s weakness. It’s mostly been wiped clean, but there’s enough to get the gist: chuck a bomb in their mouths as they’re breathing in to build up to blow everything in their path away. That stuns them and lets Link finish them off with sword attacks. Six Yook need to be defeated to open the way to the temple (as it turns out, they’re not friendly, so it’s okay), then one last Yook – the one who was impersonating Aroo – confronts him. Throughout it all, heavy winds also hinder Link’s progress.
An early puzzle in the Temple of Ice requires a bombchu, so this dungeon has to come after the Goron Temple. As an ice dungeon, the floors are slippery and there are icy variants of Bubbles and Keese to welcome Link. After fighting a couple Yook, Link get’s the treasure item, the grappling hook, which is more like a hookshot in this game, but it’s got a new twist: Link can sling it between two posts and either use it as a tightrope or a giant slingshot, which can be used to bounce things off of or to throw Link across gaps. There are two Wisdom Gems in the dungeon.
The dungeon boss is Gleeok, Two-Headed Dragon. One of the heads is fiery, one is icy, so the standard Twinrova tactics [2] work here, using the grappling hook to reflect attacks and crack their masks. Sometimes they flood the room, so Link needs to jump on the posts to be above the wave. Once both masks are broken, the two heads come forward and destroy two of the posts, but that’s okay, they change tactics. Now they build up big attacks, leaving their tongues hanging out, and Link grabs the tongue to pull the heads down to swat them. Once both heads are defeated, Link gets more sand for the hourglass, a heart container, and the Azurine.
As Link leaves the temple, he meets the real Aroo. With the grappling hook, there are a bunch of Spirit Gems Link can get across the world, bringing his total up to 16 Power Gems, 14 Wisdom Gems, and 15 Courage Gems. Gongoron and Aroo send Link letters, also containing a Courage Gem (Gongoron) and Wisdom Gem (Aroo). Gongoron invites Link to check out Dee Ess Island again, where the minigame has been set up. The game involves rolling Gongoron over the island, hitting targets. If it can be done in less than 35 seconds, Link gets the second bombchu bag upgrade, letting him have 30 bombchus.
Next: Filling out the map.
[1] The Spirit of Courage is yellow. Heh.
[2] Hrm. I’ve been playing the NES games so I’ve been thinking about the evolution of the Zelda formula, and A Link to the Past has a boss very much like this Gleeok in the dungeon where Link gets the Mirror Shield, but there’s no way to reflect the fire/ice attacks at the opposite heads. Checking it out, it looks like Oracle of Ages was the first game where every dungeon item is used to defeat its boss.
The island is home to two tribes of people. The ones near the docking port are the Anouki, who have antlers and wear fur-lined hooded coats. They don’t get along with the Yook, and split the island between them. However, the chief says a Yook has snuck over to the Anouki side, taken one of the villagers, and has been pretending to be that villager and living among the Anouki. And so, in order for Link to get to the temple and get the island’s pure metal, the chief wants Link to find the Yook imposter and kick him out. The hint he gives is that Yook are liars, while apparently Anouki are honest.
Ciela apparently doesn’t trust the chief, and her warning combined with the fact that the Anouki seem to really dislike the Yook put my senses on edge for a revelation that the Yook are the good guys and we just happened to meet the Anouki first. But there’s no other way forward at the moment, so Link heads up to the village and starts talking to people. Some of the villagers say that others in the village are honest, while the rest suggest that others are liars. Examining the hints Link’s gotten, it becomes apparent that if only one of them is lying, it’s Aroo. When Link confronts him, Ciela tries to convince him to leave peacefully, but her squeaky voice “drives [him] wild,” causing him to revert to his natural yetiesque Yook form. The Yook wants to eat Ciela, saying she looks tasty, and Ciela says she’s not (“I’m yellow [1], but I don’t taste anything like a delicious fruit!”). The Yook ends up blowing Link and Ciela out of Aroo’s home and escaping.
The chief opens up the way to the Great Ice Field, where the Yook live (Link’s ambivalent about revenge, but Ciela’s up for it). As Link heads over, a stone has a message explaining the Yook’s weakness. It’s mostly been wiped clean, but there’s enough to get the gist: chuck a bomb in their mouths as they’re breathing in to build up to blow everything in their path away. That stuns them and lets Link finish them off with sword attacks. Six Yook need to be defeated to open the way to the temple (as it turns out, they’re not friendly, so it’s okay), then one last Yook – the one who was impersonating Aroo – confronts him. Throughout it all, heavy winds also hinder Link’s progress.
An early puzzle in the Temple of Ice requires a bombchu, so this dungeon has to come after the Goron Temple. As an ice dungeon, the floors are slippery and there are icy variants of Bubbles and Keese to welcome Link. After fighting a couple Yook, Link get’s the treasure item, the grappling hook, which is more like a hookshot in this game, but it’s got a new twist: Link can sling it between two posts and either use it as a tightrope or a giant slingshot, which can be used to bounce things off of or to throw Link across gaps. There are two Wisdom Gems in the dungeon.
The dungeon boss is Gleeok, Two-Headed Dragon. One of the heads is fiery, one is icy, so the standard Twinrova tactics [2] work here, using the grappling hook to reflect attacks and crack their masks. Sometimes they flood the room, so Link needs to jump on the posts to be above the wave. Once both masks are broken, the two heads come forward and destroy two of the posts, but that’s okay, they change tactics. Now they build up big attacks, leaving their tongues hanging out, and Link grabs the tongue to pull the heads down to swat them. Once both heads are defeated, Link gets more sand for the hourglass, a heart container, and the Azurine.
As Link leaves the temple, he meets the real Aroo. With the grappling hook, there are a bunch of Spirit Gems Link can get across the world, bringing his total up to 16 Power Gems, 14 Wisdom Gems, and 15 Courage Gems. Gongoron and Aroo send Link letters, also containing a Courage Gem (Gongoron) and Wisdom Gem (Aroo). Gongoron invites Link to check out Dee Ess Island again, where the minigame has been set up. The game involves rolling Gongoron over the island, hitting targets. If it can be done in less than 35 seconds, Link gets the second bombchu bag upgrade, letting him have 30 bombchus.
Next: Filling out the map.
[1] The Spirit of Courage is yellow. Heh.
[2] Hrm. I’ve been playing the NES games so I’ve been thinking about the evolution of the Zelda formula, and A Link to the Past has a boss very much like this Gleeok in the dungeon where Link gets the Mirror Shield, but there’s no way to reflect the fire/ice attacks at the opposite heads. Checking it out, it looks like Oracle of Ages was the first game where every dungeon item is used to defeat its boss.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Gorons
There are two main islands in the southeast quadrant. The first is in the southwest corner of the area, and as the SS Linebeck approaches, a cyclone lifts the ship and carries it off, soaking the engine so it’s stuck. A Massive Eye, a giant flying slug with six eyes on its sides, comes flying at the ship. Linebeck shows why he’s not an adventurer – he doesn’t realize the conspicuous eyes are the monster’s weak point. It shoots a bunch of projectiles at the ship, and those aren’t so bad, but it also makes ramming runs that are, as far as I can tell, unavoidable. Once the eyes have all been shot out, the Massive Eye flops back into the sea, leaving Link and Linebeck free to explore the island.
As Link sets foot on Goron Island, the first Goron he sees greets him by advising him to talk to everyone else. Talking to everyone involves clearing some Yellow ChuChus off a cliff with the bow, and getting a treasure chart as a reward. There’s also an ominous warning about Link possibly losing his shield and needing to replace it from the new store on the island. Once Link’s talked to everyone, Ciela pipes up that he’s done so and it’s time to visit the elder. The elder is Biggoron, and he’s bigger than the rest of the Gorons but not so towering that only part of him fits in the frame. Once he’s established that Link has introduced himself to everyone, he begins asking questions about the tribe and the island (for a fee of 20 rupees). The quiz calls to mind Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, including a lifeline (“Gorohint,” which removes an incorrect answer) and “Is that your ultimate answer?” Correct answers award rupees, but once everything’s done, there’s the matter of membership dues – the exact amount of rupees Link got for answering the questions. (He gets a Wisdom Gem, which he gets too keep.)
Biggoron says the pure metal’s in the nearby temple, and his son, Gongoron will show Link the way. Gongoron’s not thrilled about the newest member of the tribe, and runs off, defying Link to keep up. After heading the wrong way, Gongoron then goes past the Goron checkpoint and to the temple. The upper half of the island is a giant maze Link needs to navigate, finding a Power Gem along the way. The last obstacle before the temple is a Like Like, which tries to suck Link in. This gives an opening for Link to chuck bombs into their mouths.
The Goron Temple reintroduces Armos, who go inert after being hit by bombs and can be pushed around to hold floor switches down. On the second level of the temple, Link catches up to Gongoron, who got grabbed by monsters and thrown in the temple and is suddenly a lot nicer to Link. Link and Gongoron need to work together to advance, with the player alternately controlling both. After getting both Link and Gongoron to stand on switches, the treasure chest with the dungeon item appears, giving Link bombchus. I’ve never cared much for bombchus, but these are an exception: Link/the player gets to draw the path for them to travel, with them exploding at the end (or when they hit something). Once Link opens the way further down, Gongoron finds his own path, leaving Link alone to solve a series of bombchu and Armos puzzles. There’s a Power and Wisdom Gem to be found in the dungeon.
Gongoron returns in time to help Link fight the dungeon boss, Dongorongo [1], Armored Lizard. In the first phase, Gongoron has to knock Dongorongo over and then Link sends a bombchu over into its mouth from across a sand pit. Complicating matters, enemies constantly spawn and cross the sand to attack Link, so the player has to switch over to have Link deal with them if they get away from Gongoron. After a few hits, Dongorongo sits up and flops over, leading Gongoron to go ahead. But it didn’t explode into sand, so there’s one phase left. A bridge appeared across the sand for Link to cross, and now he can wait for Dongorongo to suck in air in preparation for a fire stream attack and add a bomb to its diet, then whack the newly exposed weak point on its back. After enough of this, Dongorongo goes down again, and this time he does explode.
Gongoron’s waiting for Link in the chamber with the Crimsonine, and apologizes to Link for thinking Dongorongo was defeated before it actually was. When Link takes the Crimsonine, Gongoron tells him to stop by his home to talk to Biggoron before leaving. Biggoron officially says Link can take the Crimsonine to make the Phantom Sword, and as a parting gift, gives him back the membership fee he paid earlier plus a bonus (a total of 200 rupees). Before leaving, Link stops off at the island store and buys a bombchu bag upgrade. After that, various stores around the islands start selling a heart container for 2000 rupees, but at this point Link’s swimming in rupees from selling off treasures and duplicate ship parts, so that’s not a big deal.
Next: Knights and knaves.
[1] I go back and forth between reading this as “Dongo Rongo” and “[Do]dongo” with “Goron” stuck in the middle.
As Link sets foot on Goron Island, the first Goron he sees greets him by advising him to talk to everyone else. Talking to everyone involves clearing some Yellow ChuChus off a cliff with the bow, and getting a treasure chart as a reward. There’s also an ominous warning about Link possibly losing his shield and needing to replace it from the new store on the island. Once Link’s talked to everyone, Ciela pipes up that he’s done so and it’s time to visit the elder. The elder is Biggoron, and he’s bigger than the rest of the Gorons but not so towering that only part of him fits in the frame. Once he’s established that Link has introduced himself to everyone, he begins asking questions about the tribe and the island (for a fee of 20 rupees). The quiz calls to mind Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, including a lifeline (“Gorohint,” which removes an incorrect answer) and “Is that your ultimate answer?” Correct answers award rupees, but once everything’s done, there’s the matter of membership dues – the exact amount of rupees Link got for answering the questions. (He gets a Wisdom Gem, which he gets too keep.)
Biggoron says the pure metal’s in the nearby temple, and his son, Gongoron will show Link the way. Gongoron’s not thrilled about the newest member of the tribe, and runs off, defying Link to keep up. After heading the wrong way, Gongoron then goes past the Goron checkpoint and to the temple. The upper half of the island is a giant maze Link needs to navigate, finding a Power Gem along the way. The last obstacle before the temple is a Like Like, which tries to suck Link in. This gives an opening for Link to chuck bombs into their mouths.
The Goron Temple reintroduces Armos, who go inert after being hit by bombs and can be pushed around to hold floor switches down. On the second level of the temple, Link catches up to Gongoron, who got grabbed by monsters and thrown in the temple and is suddenly a lot nicer to Link. Link and Gongoron need to work together to advance, with the player alternately controlling both. After getting both Link and Gongoron to stand on switches, the treasure chest with the dungeon item appears, giving Link bombchus. I’ve never cared much for bombchus, but these are an exception: Link/the player gets to draw the path for them to travel, with them exploding at the end (or when they hit something). Once Link opens the way further down, Gongoron finds his own path, leaving Link alone to solve a series of bombchu and Armos puzzles. There’s a Power and Wisdom Gem to be found in the dungeon.
Gongoron returns in time to help Link fight the dungeon boss, Dongorongo [1], Armored Lizard. In the first phase, Gongoron has to knock Dongorongo over and then Link sends a bombchu over into its mouth from across a sand pit. Complicating matters, enemies constantly spawn and cross the sand to attack Link, so the player has to switch over to have Link deal with them if they get away from Gongoron. After a few hits, Dongorongo sits up and flops over, leading Gongoron to go ahead. But it didn’t explode into sand, so there’s one phase left. A bridge appeared across the sand for Link to cross, and now he can wait for Dongorongo to suck in air in preparation for a fire stream attack and add a bomb to its diet, then whack the newly exposed weak point on its back. After enough of this, Dongorongo goes down again, and this time he does explode.
Gongoron’s waiting for Link in the chamber with the Crimsonine, and apologizes to Link for thinking Dongorongo was defeated before it actually was. When Link takes the Crimsonine, Gongoron tells him to stop by his home to talk to Biggoron before leaving. Biggoron officially says Link can take the Crimsonine to make the Phantom Sword, and as a parting gift, gives him back the membership fee he paid earlier plus a bonus (a total of 200 rupees). Before leaving, Link stops off at the island store and buys a bombchu bag upgrade. After that, various stores around the islands start selling a heart container for 2000 rupees, but at this point Link’s swimming in rupees from selling off treasures and duplicate ship parts, so that’s not a big deal.
Next: Knights and knaves.
[1] I go back and forth between reading this as “Dongo Rongo” and “[Do]dongo” with “Goron” stuck in the middle.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Southeastern Sea
With the Wisdom Gem I got on the last run through the Temple of the Ocean King, I’m up to ten, so that’s another visit to Spirit Island, this time to awaken more of Neri’s power. This upgrade makes Link take less damage and gives him some ability with his shield, but I stuck with Leaf. There are a couple letters Link can receive before heading off to the new area: one from Linebeck trying to express respect for Link (he’s mostly successful), and one from Joanne thanking Link for delivering Jolene’s letter. Both contain ship parts.
As Link heads into the southeast quadrant, there are three pirate ships that almost immediately spot him and come over. Sinking two of them is pretty easy, but the third charges at the SS Linebeck and if it gets close enough triggers a boarding attack. It’s just a few Miniblins that board, and it took longer for them to actually show up on the ship than for Link to finish them off. Once they’re gone, Linebeck emerges from hiding to give Link a Courage Gem. There are two golden frogs in the region for Link to shoot and learn the warp symbols. One looks like a capital omega, and it seems no matter how badly I draw it Link warps just fine. The other, a W with a line over it, is really twitchy and took a bunch of tries to get right.
A third traveler’s ship appears in this area, this one containing members of the Ho Ho Tribe (inspired by Old Man Ho Ho from Wind Waker), looking for treasures they can sell at home. They pay better than the Treasure Teller on Mercay, but only buy one type of treasure each day, and it wasn’t long after I started having things to sell them that they got stuck on the same type of treasure for three days in a row. (And paying less for it each day.) Plus, it’s not like it’s hard to make rupees, so trying to wait for them to be interested in the other seven types of treasure seems a losing proposition.
There are two uncharted islands in this area. Harrow Island to the north seems to consist solely of a treasure field digging minigame. Link gets to dig up ten treasures. Some of the “treasures” can be rupoors, which count against the total. There’s also a spirit named Lucky Lee who, when dug up, offers Link a chance to play a straight up gambling minigame, choosing between two hypothetical treasure chests. The whole Harrow Island game is basically a wash; in two games, I got a couple treasure charts and about broke even in rupees.
The second hidden island is Dee Ess Island, which is shaped like a DS. (Preparing to sail off, Linebeck notes the island’s “different shape.” I would have gone with “distinctive,” but, oh, well.) There are Gorons here setting up a minigame, but it’s not ready yet. There’s a few things to do on the island now. First, there are a bunch of soft soil patches Link can dig up. A lot of these reveal Rope nests or beehives, but there are rupees to be had as well. A gossip stone hints for Link to dig where the Menu button is, which means at the bottom left corner of the “touchscreen”; he finds a Courage Gem there. At the north end of the island, there’s a pit corresponding to the other screen with a couple Hinox. Once they’re defeated, Link can claim another Courage Gem. That brings Link’s Courage Gem collection to 10, so he can go back to Spirit Island to power up Ciela. Her power lets Link shoot sword beams. (At full health, I think. Still sticking with Leaf.)
As in Wind Waker, Beedle has a rewards program for buying stuff from him. Points are earned for every 100 rupees Link spends, so they grow faster than in Wind Waker where it was one point per purchase. The reward tiers are Silver Membership (50 points, permanent 10% discount and a freebie item card), Gold Membership (100 points, permanent 20% discount and a compliment card which earns a compliment from Beedle), Platinum Membership (100 points, permanent 30% discount and a complimentary card which lets the player compliment Beedle), and VIP Membership (200 points, permanent 40% discount). It’s not hard to climb the ranks, even as the discounts make things cheaper; he sells two ship parts a day, and some of them can get pretty pricey.
There are eight ship parts and nine total sets. One of these is the base set that Linebeck had when you met him (plus Eddo’s cannon). The others are two fancy sets, an iron set, a stone set, a crappy set (the anchor is a swim ring!), a demonic set, tropical/shell set, and a golden set. Using multiple pieces from a set (other than the base set) adds hearts to the ship, so it’s worth upgrading. Pieces can be found in stores, in some treasure chests, by salvaging from treasure charts (generally either a ship part or Sand of Hours), or as minigame rewards. Getting all the pieces is really only worth it if you really need the full eight hearts from equipping a full golden set or your completionist side won’t let you not.
Next: Who wants to be a Goron?
As Link heads into the southeast quadrant, there are three pirate ships that almost immediately spot him and come over. Sinking two of them is pretty easy, but the third charges at the SS Linebeck and if it gets close enough triggers a boarding attack. It’s just a few Miniblins that board, and it took longer for them to actually show up on the ship than for Link to finish them off. Once they’re gone, Linebeck emerges from hiding to give Link a Courage Gem. There are two golden frogs in the region for Link to shoot and learn the warp symbols. One looks like a capital omega, and it seems no matter how badly I draw it Link warps just fine. The other, a W with a line over it, is really twitchy and took a bunch of tries to get right.
A third traveler’s ship appears in this area, this one containing members of the Ho Ho Tribe (inspired by Old Man Ho Ho from Wind Waker), looking for treasures they can sell at home. They pay better than the Treasure Teller on Mercay, but only buy one type of treasure each day, and it wasn’t long after I started having things to sell them that they got stuck on the same type of treasure for three days in a row. (And paying less for it each day.) Plus, it’s not like it’s hard to make rupees, so trying to wait for them to be interested in the other seven types of treasure seems a losing proposition.
There are two uncharted islands in this area. Harrow Island to the north seems to consist solely of a treasure field digging minigame. Link gets to dig up ten treasures. Some of the “treasures” can be rupoors, which count against the total. There’s also a spirit named Lucky Lee who, when dug up, offers Link a chance to play a straight up gambling minigame, choosing between two hypothetical treasure chests. The whole Harrow Island game is basically a wash; in two games, I got a couple treasure charts and about broke even in rupees.
The second hidden island is Dee Ess Island, which is shaped like a DS. (Preparing to sail off, Linebeck notes the island’s “different shape.” I would have gone with “distinctive,” but, oh, well.) There are Gorons here setting up a minigame, but it’s not ready yet. There’s a few things to do on the island now. First, there are a bunch of soft soil patches Link can dig up. A lot of these reveal Rope nests or beehives, but there are rupees to be had as well. A gossip stone hints for Link to dig where the Menu button is, which means at the bottom left corner of the “touchscreen”; he finds a Courage Gem there. At the north end of the island, there’s a pit corresponding to the other screen with a couple Hinox. Once they’re defeated, Link can claim another Courage Gem. That brings Link’s Courage Gem collection to 10, so he can go back to Spirit Island to power up Ciela. Her power lets Link shoot sword beams. (At full health, I think. Still sticking with Leaf.)
As in Wind Waker, Beedle has a rewards program for buying stuff from him. Points are earned for every 100 rupees Link spends, so they grow faster than in Wind Waker where it was one point per purchase. The reward tiers are Silver Membership (50 points, permanent 10% discount and a freebie item card), Gold Membership (100 points, permanent 20% discount and a compliment card which earns a compliment from Beedle), Platinum Membership (100 points, permanent 30% discount and a complimentary card which lets the player compliment Beedle), and VIP Membership (200 points, permanent 40% discount). It’s not hard to climb the ranks, even as the discounts make things cheaper; he sells two ship parts a day, and some of them can get pretty pricey.
There are eight ship parts and nine total sets. One of these is the base set that Linebeck had when you met him (plus Eddo’s cannon). The others are two fancy sets, an iron set, a stone set, a crappy set (the anchor is a swim ring!), a demonic set, tropical/shell set, and a golden set. Using multiple pieces from a set (other than the base set) adds hearts to the ship, so it’s worth upgrading. Pieces can be found in stores, in some treasure chests, by salvaging from treasure charts (generally either a ship part or Sand of Hours), or as minigame rewards. Getting all the pieces is really only worth it if you really need the full eight hearts from equipping a full golden set or your completionist side won’t let you not.
Next: Who wants to be a Goron?
Friday, August 16, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Checkpoint
Jolene is now constantly patrolling the waters, looking for Linebeck. If she finds the ship, she’ll try to board, and escaping is pretty much impossible unless you’re close to an island or quadrant boundary, or use the Cyclone Slate to warp away. It’s amusing the first few times she does it, but eventually it just becomes tedious. (Right around the time the dialogue starts repeating each time and Linebeck stops giving rewards for fighting her off again.) If Link has trouble fighting off Jolene, Linebeck shouts out a hint, leading Jolene to wonder where the voice came from.
Zauz is expecting Link’s return visit. When Ciela asks how, he explains that his people have served the Ocean King for generations. They developed weapons to fight the Ocean King’s enemies, and most pertinent to Link’s cause is one called the Phantom Sword. Unfortunately, there are none left in the world; Zauz can make one, but lacks the materials. (Ciela isn’t amused by Zauz’ suggesting an idea but waiting to bring up the complications.) For Zauz to make a Phantom Sword, Link needs to find three pure metals: Aquanine, Azurine, and Crimsonine. The three metals were given to three tribes of the world, and to find them, Link needs to visit the Temple of the Ocean King again. It turns out there’s a second symbol Link can write on the door on the sixth floor, the Triforce. This will open the lowest levels of the temple to him.
As Link approaches the Temple of the Ocean King, another earthquake hits, which Ciela says is coming from below the temple, and so it’s probably Bellum causing them. Inside the temple, some of the phantoms have been upgraded to Swift Phantoms. They move faster than their counterparts. Ciela’s worried, but Leaf points out if they don’t see Link, it doesn’t matter how fast they are. All nice to know, but I’ve got to wonder why they’ve got to have Link wander out of the initial safe area to start yapping about it. The first few floors don’t have very much new; a few eye switches Link can hit to make things a little easier for him, and one Power Gem. On the fifth floor, the enemies have been upgraded, but with Leaf buffing sword attacks, they still go quickly.
When Link comes to the sixth floor, Ciela reminds Link that this is where the door he needs to draw on is, and to remember the shape they saw in Zauz’ home. However, Link can draw the hourglass symbol to go back to the original room, which he might want to do because there’s a 30 second time up there. When he draws the Triforce symbol [1], an alternate room opens up. This room has the courage seal for Ciela to open, and the latest victim of the temple opens a checkpoint portal. Link can step into it to return to the start, saving his progress. The only catch is that returning to this room uses the same amount of time Link used the last time he used the checkpoint portal to get out. So, I did the first six floors of the Temple twice: once to remind myself how it goes and see the new stuff the bow opened up, and once to speed through for the most time left going forward. I got it down to about a minute and a half used, which I feel pretty good about [2].
The ultimate goal of the next three floors is to place three crystals into their slots. This can’t be done in a single straight shot through the floors; Link’s path has him going up and down between the floors multiple times. There are two new complications: first, some of the tiles make noise when Link runs on them, which alerts nearby Phantoms, so Link has to be careful when they’re nearby. (Carrying a crystal slows Link’s speed enough that he can go as fast as he can without worry.) Second, the lowest floor has this game’s variation of Wizzrobes, who stalk Link when his back is turned and steal time by whacking him with a scythe. Link can kill them with a spin attack if he lures them close enough. There are a Courage Gem and Wisdom Gem on these levels. Once the crystals are in place, Link finds the Southeastern Sea chart. A skeleton in this room says if Link places the crystals in a specific order, it will open up the way to more levels of the temple. For now, I’ve got enough to go on – I don’t even have to use some other arcane feature of the DS to make the map useful – so I’ll leave the next levels for next time.
I know the Temple of the Ocean King is not the most beloved aspect of this game, but I like it. I think the developers did a good job putting new stuff to discover on earlier-visited floors, plus the shortcuts to make them fast to go through when I’ve already gotten the treasures. Having to stealth it isn’t too bad – it’s not instant-fail, and not that hard to make it to a safe zone. And the time limit is more than generous (although admittedly getting the treasure maps and hauling up the sands from the ocean floor help here). Plus I’ve always been the type to enjoy repeating things until I get them perfect, so replaying the Temple doesn’t bother me too much.
Next: That can’t be a natural island shape.
[1] It’s pretty twitchy about what’s Triforcy enough; if the symbol is close but not close enough for the game’s purposes, it shows up briefly and tells you to try again.
[2] Plus Link can go back to the symbol door, draw the hourglass, and get another 30 second time refund before venturing deeper into the temple.
Zauz is expecting Link’s return visit. When Ciela asks how, he explains that his people have served the Ocean King for generations. They developed weapons to fight the Ocean King’s enemies, and most pertinent to Link’s cause is one called the Phantom Sword. Unfortunately, there are none left in the world; Zauz can make one, but lacks the materials. (Ciela isn’t amused by Zauz’ suggesting an idea but waiting to bring up the complications.) For Zauz to make a Phantom Sword, Link needs to find three pure metals: Aquanine, Azurine, and Crimsonine. The three metals were given to three tribes of the world, and to find them, Link needs to visit the Temple of the Ocean King again. It turns out there’s a second symbol Link can write on the door on the sixth floor, the Triforce. This will open the lowest levels of the temple to him.
As Link approaches the Temple of the Ocean King, another earthquake hits, which Ciela says is coming from below the temple, and so it’s probably Bellum causing them. Inside the temple, some of the phantoms have been upgraded to Swift Phantoms. They move faster than their counterparts. Ciela’s worried, but Leaf points out if they don’t see Link, it doesn’t matter how fast they are. All nice to know, but I’ve got to wonder why they’ve got to have Link wander out of the initial safe area to start yapping about it. The first few floors don’t have very much new; a few eye switches Link can hit to make things a little easier for him, and one Power Gem. On the fifth floor, the enemies have been upgraded, but with Leaf buffing sword attacks, they still go quickly.
When Link comes to the sixth floor, Ciela reminds Link that this is where the door he needs to draw on is, and to remember the shape they saw in Zauz’ home. However, Link can draw the hourglass symbol to go back to the original room, which he might want to do because there’s a 30 second time up there. When he draws the Triforce symbol [1], an alternate room opens up. This room has the courage seal for Ciela to open, and the latest victim of the temple opens a checkpoint portal. Link can step into it to return to the start, saving his progress. The only catch is that returning to this room uses the same amount of time Link used the last time he used the checkpoint portal to get out. So, I did the first six floors of the Temple twice: once to remind myself how it goes and see the new stuff the bow opened up, and once to speed through for the most time left going forward. I got it down to about a minute and a half used, which I feel pretty good about [2].
The ultimate goal of the next three floors is to place three crystals into their slots. This can’t be done in a single straight shot through the floors; Link’s path has him going up and down between the floors multiple times. There are two new complications: first, some of the tiles make noise when Link runs on them, which alerts nearby Phantoms, so Link has to be careful when they’re nearby. (Carrying a crystal slows Link’s speed enough that he can go as fast as he can without worry.) Second, the lowest floor has this game’s variation of Wizzrobes, who stalk Link when his back is turned and steal time by whacking him with a scythe. Link can kill them with a spin attack if he lures them close enough. There are a Courage Gem and Wisdom Gem on these levels. Once the crystals are in place, Link finds the Southeastern Sea chart. A skeleton in this room says if Link places the crystals in a specific order, it will open up the way to more levels of the temple. For now, I’ve got enough to go on – I don’t even have to use some other arcane feature of the DS to make the map useful – so I’ll leave the next levels for next time.
I know the Temple of the Ocean King is not the most beloved aspect of this game, but I like it. I think the developers did a good job putting new stuff to discover on earlier-visited floors, plus the shortcuts to make them fast to go through when I’ve already gotten the treasures. Having to stealth it isn’t too bad – it’s not instant-fail, and not that hard to make it to a safe zone. And the time limit is more than generous (although admittedly getting the treasure maps and hauling up the sands from the ocean floor help here). Plus I’ve always been the type to enjoy repeating things until I get them perfect, so replaying the Temple doesn’t bother me too much.
Next: That can’t be a natural island shape.
[1] It’s pretty twitchy about what’s Triforcy enough; if the symbol is close but not close enough for the game’s purposes, it shows up briefly and tells you to try again.
[2] Plus Link can go back to the symbol door, draw the hourglass, and get another 30 second time refund before venturing deeper into the temple.
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Ghost Ship
As the SS Linebeck heads into the foggy area where the ghost ship is, the engine goes out. Linebeck goes below to fix it, but he’s going to have to stay below to keep it working, so Link takes the wheel. This section takes advantage of the more direct control over the ship’s direction by having Link adjust heading as he goes. The three spirits float in front of him, and when he’s pointing toward the ghost ship, they start shedding sparkles and the pinging that serves as an audio cue speeds up. Following the spirits’ guidance, Link eventually finds the ghost ship, and he, Linebeck, and the three spirits get on board.
To no one’s surprise, Linebeck finds the ghost ship scary, and Ciela takes great joy in calling him a chicken. Er, cucco. So, it’s up to Link to explore the ship and look for Tetra, and possibly treasure. One deck down, Link finds a girl huddled up in fright; she says she’s the youngest daughter of the House of Cubus. She and her sisters were kidnapped and have been prisoners on the ghost ship ever since. There are three more for Link to rescue and lead to her. When she talks about the enemies below, she gets a little weird, saying, “Fallen! Fallen! They are the fallen!” Actually, her entire manner of talking is stilted, but that outburst still stands out.
One of the sisters is on the same deck as the youngest, and she isn’t too hard to rescue. Sure, she stops moving if Link tries running too fast, and she screams and stops dead if she gets too close to one of the Skulltulas who drops from the ceiling. But it’s not until the next sister, one level down, where the real fun starts. The bottom two decks have safe areas similar to the Temple of the Ocean King, and they wouldn’t have those if there weren’t something to be safe from. In this case, Reaplings, Grim Reaper-esque critters that hit hard if they catch up to Link. So sneak around it is. This is already annoying enough without the escort aspect, but the Cubus sisters really aren’t helpful. Having to backtrack if he runs to fast is bad enough, but their arachnophobic screams alert the Reaplings. Oh, and they give advice, but it’s bad; the second sister points Link to one of two treasure chests… that contains a Rupoor that steals 10 rupees and creates another Reapling on the level. If Link/the player learns their lesson from that one, when the third sister says not to shoot the Reaplings in the back, he can take learn the opposite, discovering a way to stun them. Here’s where I’d say this couldn’t be more frustrating if the sisters were trying to sabotage Link…
…but they are. As soon as they’re all reunited, they express disappointment that the Reaplings didn’t kill Link, but they decide they can do it themselves. They bring Link to the boss arena and challenge him to a match of “dead man’s volley” – the now well-established game of reflecting energy attacks. Oh, and they reveal their true demonic faces and are identified as the “Diabolical Cubus Sisters.” In the first round, three of the sisters shoot laser beams while the fourth attacks. Once the first sister is down, tactics get messier: in particular, after Link reflects an attack, the sisters bounce it among themselves before sending it back to him. This continues until it’s down to just one, who shoots three attacks at once, only one of which can be deflected. Once the last sister is down, she makes a taunting comment about Tetra before poofing and dropping the key to the hold where she is. (Ciela calls the sisters “volley girls.” Heh.) When Link goes below to find Tetra, the Reaplings are gone, leaving him free run of ship. He finds Tetra, but too late… she’s petrified. Linebeck shows up, noting that the ghost ship’s fog has dissipated and now he’s interested in the legendary treasure. As Linebeck examines Tetra, Oshus shows up, explaining that the ship drained her life force, leaving her in her current state.
He says it’s time for Link to know everything, starting with who he really is: the Ocean King. (Oshus. Ocean King. I should have known.) He was attacked by some sort of abomination named Bellum, and taken to the Temple where his life force continues to be drained. Bellum’s monsters spread over the sea, capturing Leaf and Neri, but Ciela split her soul and escaped, which inspired Oshus to do the same. Meanwhile, Bellum created the ghost ship to lure in people seeking treasure and drain their life force. It’s not too late to save Tetra, if Link can defeat Bellum before all of Oshus’ life force is gone. He directs Link to Zauz, who will know how to defeat Bellum.
While this is going on, Linebeck leans a little too hard on Tetra and knocks her over, then picks her up and inspects her for damage… but then the important part clicks for him: there’s no treasure! With his entire motivation gone, he quits, intending to take his ship and go home. Ciela can’t talk him into staying, even by pointing out that for a seafarer, the Ocean King being consumed by evil is probably not the best turn of events. But Oshus has his own way: he offers to grant a wish to Linebeck for his continued assistance, and Linebeck jumps to action. Oshus apologizes to Link for dragging him and Tetra into what should be his battle, as Linebeck continues to urge Link to hurry up and go.
Next: The second quest.
To no one’s surprise, Linebeck finds the ghost ship scary, and Ciela takes great joy in calling him a chicken. Er, cucco. So, it’s up to Link to explore the ship and look for Tetra, and possibly treasure. One deck down, Link finds a girl huddled up in fright; she says she’s the youngest daughter of the House of Cubus. She and her sisters were kidnapped and have been prisoners on the ghost ship ever since. There are three more for Link to rescue and lead to her. When she talks about the enemies below, she gets a little weird, saying, “Fallen! Fallen! They are the fallen!” Actually, her entire manner of talking is stilted, but that outburst still stands out.
One of the sisters is on the same deck as the youngest, and she isn’t too hard to rescue. Sure, she stops moving if Link tries running too fast, and she screams and stops dead if she gets too close to one of the Skulltulas who drops from the ceiling. But it’s not until the next sister, one level down, where the real fun starts. The bottom two decks have safe areas similar to the Temple of the Ocean King, and they wouldn’t have those if there weren’t something to be safe from. In this case, Reaplings, Grim Reaper-esque critters that hit hard if they catch up to Link. So sneak around it is. This is already annoying enough without the escort aspect, but the Cubus sisters really aren’t helpful. Having to backtrack if he runs to fast is bad enough, but their arachnophobic screams alert the Reaplings. Oh, and they give advice, but it’s bad; the second sister points Link to one of two treasure chests… that contains a Rupoor that steals 10 rupees and creates another Reapling on the level. If Link/the player learns their lesson from that one, when the third sister says not to shoot the Reaplings in the back, he can take learn the opposite, discovering a way to stun them. Here’s where I’d say this couldn’t be more frustrating if the sisters were trying to sabotage Link…
…but they are. As soon as they’re all reunited, they express disappointment that the Reaplings didn’t kill Link, but they decide they can do it themselves. They bring Link to the boss arena and challenge him to a match of “dead man’s volley” – the now well-established game of reflecting energy attacks. Oh, and they reveal their true demonic faces and are identified as the “Diabolical Cubus Sisters.” In the first round, three of the sisters shoot laser beams while the fourth attacks. Once the first sister is down, tactics get messier: in particular, after Link reflects an attack, the sisters bounce it among themselves before sending it back to him. This continues until it’s down to just one, who shoots three attacks at once, only one of which can be deflected. Once the last sister is down, she makes a taunting comment about Tetra before poofing and dropping the key to the hold where she is. (Ciela calls the sisters “volley girls.” Heh.) When Link goes below to find Tetra, the Reaplings are gone, leaving him free run of ship. He finds Tetra, but too late… she’s petrified. Linebeck shows up, noting that the ghost ship’s fog has dissipated and now he’s interested in the legendary treasure. As Linebeck examines Tetra, Oshus shows up, explaining that the ship drained her life force, leaving her in her current state.
He says it’s time for Link to know everything, starting with who he really is: the Ocean King. (Oshus. Ocean King. I should have known.) He was attacked by some sort of abomination named Bellum, and taken to the Temple where his life force continues to be drained. Bellum’s monsters spread over the sea, capturing Leaf and Neri, but Ciela split her soul and escaped, which inspired Oshus to do the same. Meanwhile, Bellum created the ghost ship to lure in people seeking treasure and drain their life force. It’s not too late to save Tetra, if Link can defeat Bellum before all of Oshus’ life force is gone. He directs Link to Zauz, who will know how to defeat Bellum.
While this is going on, Linebeck leans a little too hard on Tetra and knocks her over, then picks her up and inspects her for damage… but then the important part clicks for him: there’s no treasure! With his entire motivation gone, he quits, intending to take his ship and go home. Ciela can’t talk him into staying, even by pointing out that for a seafarer, the Ocean King being consumed by evil is probably not the best turn of events. But Oshus has his own way: he offers to grant a wish to Linebeck for his continued assistance, and Linebeck jumps to action. Oshus apologizes to Link for dragging him and Tetra into what should be his battle, as Linebeck continues to urge Link to hurry up and go.
Next: The second quest.
Monday, August 12, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Jolene
Before leaving Molida Island, Link can buy a quiver upgrade from the shop. He also receives a letter from Romanos (the Wayfarer’s son), inviting him to check out… something. It turns out he’s set up a shooting gallery to raise money to fund his own adventures, and invites Link to try his hand at it. This thing is deceptively hard: most of the targets have ghosts painted on them and award 10 points, plus 10 points for each consecutive shot that hit a ghost up to a maximum of 50 points. About halfway into the game, targets start passing through that have a girl painted on them, and hitting one of them costs 50 points. There are two main rewards here: the second quiver upgrade for scoring 1,700 points, and a heart container for 2,000.
My main difficulty with the game is that I found it way too easy to accidentally hit a target’s edge rather than the center of the one behind it I was aiming at. This is obviously bad with the girl targets you’re not supposed to hit – although honestly I think they’re trying to get hit so they can laugh with their friends how they ruined my run – but it’s not much better when shooting at a ghost and hitting a different ghost. Or, worse, hitting two ghosts with one arrow only to have fired a second arrow to hit one of the ghosts that isn’t there anymore. There are some good things: the treasures he awards for solid runs sell to the Treasure Teller for a good deal more than a run of the game, so it’s very profitable. (I started with 200 rupees and ended with over 4,000.) And it awards ship parts for good runs after you get the main rewards, so when I start focusing on completing that collection, I’ll be coming here a lot. (It’s bound to be a little less stressful when all I want is rupees and ship parts. By the end, I was getting 1,300 points more often than not.) And, when you get annoyed enough with it, you can shoot at Romanos. He jumps over the arrow, but it’s still satisfying [1].
As the SS Linebeck sets sail, Linebeck and/or Ciela decides the ghost ship’s likely hanging out in the fog in the northwest quadrant. Before they can set a course to go that way, another ship approaches, and its captain, Jolene, calls out Linebeck. Apparently, they’re old friends or enemies or whatever. Linebeck characteristically decides running away is a prudent course of action, but the engine goes dead before they make it too far and Jolene boards the ship. She’s surprised to find Link there; when he won’t tell her where Linebeck’s hiding, it starts a duel. Typical stuff, really: let her make her big attack, then strike back before she recovers. After three hits, Link and Jolene get a blade lock going; Link disarms her, and she runs off. Linebeck pops out of hiding, gives Link a blue rupee as a reward, and they set off again.
Now that Link’s collected ten Power Gems, it’s time to visit the pool on Spirit Island again. The gems unlock some of Leaf’s power, powering up Link’s sword. Link can only have one active fairy companion at a time, and as helpful and nice as Ciela’s been, double sword power is too useful a trick to pass up. (And you know it’s not like she won’t pop out when she has something to say.) Back on Mercay Island, now that Link has the bow, he can pass through the cave on the way to the Temple of the Ocean King. On the other side, he finds a laser statue that marks another hidden cave that has a Courage Gem and leads to the little island off the northeast of Mercay. There, Link finds Freedle, a guitar-playing [2] bard who has several magical boxes that will let Link trade unwanted ship parts and treasures with other players. That’s probably not going to happen, but also of interest on this island is a treasure chest with a Wisdom Gem.
There’s one last thing to wrap up before heading for the ghost ship: While hopping around the islands, Link got visited by the postman who read a letter from Jolene to her sister, Joanne. The postman asks Link to properly deliver it, and fortunately, there was a hint in the letter: Jolene asked if Joanne is still mermaid cosplaying. When Link delivers the letter to Joanne, she gives him a Wisdom Gem as a reward.
Next: How would I go about revoking Nintendo’s license to make escort missions?
[1] Phantom Hourglass is available for the Wii U Virtual Console, which… I can’t imagine to be terribly fun? I realize the game needs a touchscreen for controls and a second screen, but playing on the gamepad while the TV serves as the second screen (assuming that’s how it works) doesn’t seem like fun. And trying to line up the gamepad with the TV for things like this archery game sounds like a fscking nightmare.
[2] As he calls it, anyway. It looks more like a lute.
My main difficulty with the game is that I found it way too easy to accidentally hit a target’s edge rather than the center of the one behind it I was aiming at. This is obviously bad with the girl targets you’re not supposed to hit – although honestly I think they’re trying to get hit so they can laugh with their friends how they ruined my run – but it’s not much better when shooting at a ghost and hitting a different ghost. Or, worse, hitting two ghosts with one arrow only to have fired a second arrow to hit one of the ghosts that isn’t there anymore. There are some good things: the treasures he awards for solid runs sell to the Treasure Teller for a good deal more than a run of the game, so it’s very profitable. (I started with 200 rupees and ended with over 4,000.) And it awards ship parts for good runs after you get the main rewards, so when I start focusing on completing that collection, I’ll be coming here a lot. (It’s bound to be a little less stressful when all I want is rupees and ship parts. By the end, I was getting 1,300 points more often than not.) And, when you get annoyed enough with it, you can shoot at Romanos. He jumps over the arrow, but it’s still satisfying [1].
As the SS Linebeck sets sail, Linebeck and/or Ciela decides the ghost ship’s likely hanging out in the fog in the northwest quadrant. Before they can set a course to go that way, another ship approaches, and its captain, Jolene, calls out Linebeck. Apparently, they’re old friends or enemies or whatever. Linebeck characteristically decides running away is a prudent course of action, but the engine goes dead before they make it too far and Jolene boards the ship. She’s surprised to find Link there; when he won’t tell her where Linebeck’s hiding, it starts a duel. Typical stuff, really: let her make her big attack, then strike back before she recovers. After three hits, Link and Jolene get a blade lock going; Link disarms her, and she runs off. Linebeck pops out of hiding, gives Link a blue rupee as a reward, and they set off again.
Now that Link’s collected ten Power Gems, it’s time to visit the pool on Spirit Island again. The gems unlock some of Leaf’s power, powering up Link’s sword. Link can only have one active fairy companion at a time, and as helpful and nice as Ciela’s been, double sword power is too useful a trick to pass up. (And you know it’s not like she won’t pop out when she has something to say.) Back on Mercay Island, now that Link has the bow, he can pass through the cave on the way to the Temple of the Ocean King. On the other side, he finds a laser statue that marks another hidden cave that has a Courage Gem and leads to the little island off the northeast of Mercay. There, Link finds Freedle, a guitar-playing [2] bard who has several magical boxes that will let Link trade unwanted ship parts and treasures with other players. That’s probably not going to happen, but also of interest on this island is a treasure chest with a Wisdom Gem.
There’s one last thing to wrap up before heading for the ghost ship: While hopping around the islands, Link got visited by the postman who read a letter from Jolene to her sister, Joanne. The postman asks Link to properly deliver it, and fortunately, there was a hint in the letter: Jolene asked if Joanne is still mermaid cosplaying. When Link delivers the letter to Joanne, she gives him a Wisdom Gem as a reward.
Next: How would I go about revoking Nintendo’s license to make escort missions?
[1] Phantom Hourglass is available for the Wii U Virtual Console, which… I can’t imagine to be terribly fun? I realize the game needs a touchscreen for controls and a second screen, but playing on the gamepad while the TV serves as the second screen (assuming that’s how it works) doesn’t seem like fun. And trying to line up the gamepad with the TV for things like this archery game sounds like a fscking nightmare.
[2] As he calls it, anyway. It looks more like a lute.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Spirit of Courage
The guy at the docks who earlier asked if the ship had a cannon stops Link to ask if he has a salvage arm. If Link says he doesn’t, the guy suggests going to Eddo. If he gets ahead of himself and says he does, the guy sells him a treasure map for 50 rupees. Meanwhile, in case the player didn’t get the hint, Eddo has sent a letter advertising that he’s got a salvage arm for sale and will sell it to the first person who gets there. Except he’s a bit more demanding: Link has to yell to show how much he wants it, and here I learned I was blowing/yelling/making noise into the camera, not the microphone, so of course I was having trouble. But now it’s settled and he sells Link the salvage arm for 200 rupees.
Using the Salvage Arm is not automatic like it was in Wind Waker; the player has to guide the arm as it descends, grab a treasure chest, and guide it back up. Along the way there are sea walls to avoid, and enemies – some stationary, some mobile. The salvage arm can take five hits before breaking and becoming useless, at which point Link has to return to the shipyard on Mercay Island to repair it. I only ever got good at salvaging when I set the DS up on my Switch stand to hold it steady (which my left wrist appreciates very much). At the mark from the temple, Link finds a key with the sun emblem. There are other treasure maps he’s collected up to this point; most of those treasures give ship parts, but a couple give extra sand for the Phantom Hourglass.
Link’s approach to Molida Island is interrupted by a giant eye plant. Linebeck lays out the guidelines for the boss fight: Link has to hit the eye while not getting hit, and can help with the latter by shooting the eye plant’s attacks before they hit him. After a few shots, the eye plant dies and Link’s able to sail in to dock. He returns to the Wayfarer’s hideaway and unlocks the door with the sun symbol, which leads him to the north side of the island. (He can immediately drop back into the cave to find a Wisdom Gem.) In this area, there are three statues that, when activated, emit laser beams. A slate says the statues are the key to opening the dungeon door; Link finds the three statues and activates them, and has to turn two so they hit the door with their laser. Once all three lasers are on the door, it opens.
Key features of the Temple of Courage include riding platforms (mostly automatic, but there’s one near the end that needs to be controlled by drawing a path on the map), putting key gems into slots, and invisible walkways over apparent gaps. Moldorms show up, explaining why that name wasn’t used for the Sandworms, and they curl up when Link whacks their tail, allowing Link to get in more hits and easily finish them off. Pols Voices also show up for the first time since the Oracle games, and their weakness goes back to the Japanese version of the first game: making noise into the microphone stuns them. Finally for newly returning enemies, there are Beamos, which are only temporarily disabled by being bombed. The dungeon’s treasure is the bow, and some puzzles have Link rotating then shooting into cannons. There are two Power Gems, one Wisdom Gem, and one Courage Gem here.
The boss is Krayk, Bane of Courage, a giant hermit crab. The first phase is confusing: Crayk turns invisible, and the DS’ top screen changes to its point of view. The trick is to shoot it when it’s got Link in its sights, which stuns it an allows Link to attack its shell’s weak points. When the weak points have all been hit, the shell crumbles and the second phase begins. This one is easier: try to attack the face, which it will defend, leaving the actual weak spot on the tail open. With Crayk defeated, Link gets two more minutes’ worth of sand for the Hourglass.
The seal breaks open and the Spirit of Courage is free… but silent, not acknowledging Link or Ciela (who notes the Spirit looks like her). Back at the dock, Oshus is there with Linebeck to offer an explanation: the reason the Spirit looks like Ciela is because it’s part of her. He does a bit of magic that reunites the two halves, and Leaf and Neri come to help her rediscover her powers. She hears Tetra calling for help, which Oshus explains as part of her power to detect evil. With this power, she and the other Spirits will be able to lead Link to the Ghost Ship through the fog. Linebeck again asks Oshus how he knows so much, and Oshus again refuses to answer just yet. (On the other hand, Ciela being the Spirit of Courage explains why Linebeck’s cowardice annoys her so much.)
Next: If you ask me, I’d say she’s up to something, and to be honest, I’d appreciate it if you eased up off my back about it.
Using the Salvage Arm is not automatic like it was in Wind Waker; the player has to guide the arm as it descends, grab a treasure chest, and guide it back up. Along the way there are sea walls to avoid, and enemies – some stationary, some mobile. The salvage arm can take five hits before breaking and becoming useless, at which point Link has to return to the shipyard on Mercay Island to repair it. I only ever got good at salvaging when I set the DS up on my Switch stand to hold it steady (which my left wrist appreciates very much). At the mark from the temple, Link finds a key with the sun emblem. There are other treasure maps he’s collected up to this point; most of those treasures give ship parts, but a couple give extra sand for the Phantom Hourglass.
Link’s approach to Molida Island is interrupted by a giant eye plant. Linebeck lays out the guidelines for the boss fight: Link has to hit the eye while not getting hit, and can help with the latter by shooting the eye plant’s attacks before they hit him. After a few shots, the eye plant dies and Link’s able to sail in to dock. He returns to the Wayfarer’s hideaway and unlocks the door with the sun symbol, which leads him to the north side of the island. (He can immediately drop back into the cave to find a Wisdom Gem.) In this area, there are three statues that, when activated, emit laser beams. A slate says the statues are the key to opening the dungeon door; Link finds the three statues and activates them, and has to turn two so they hit the door with their laser. Once all three lasers are on the door, it opens.
Key features of the Temple of Courage include riding platforms (mostly automatic, but there’s one near the end that needs to be controlled by drawing a path on the map), putting key gems into slots, and invisible walkways over apparent gaps. Moldorms show up, explaining why that name wasn’t used for the Sandworms, and they curl up when Link whacks their tail, allowing Link to get in more hits and easily finish them off. Pols Voices also show up for the first time since the Oracle games, and their weakness goes back to the Japanese version of the first game: making noise into the microphone stuns them. Finally for newly returning enemies, there are Beamos, which are only temporarily disabled by being bombed. The dungeon’s treasure is the bow, and some puzzles have Link rotating then shooting into cannons. There are two Power Gems, one Wisdom Gem, and one Courage Gem here.
The boss is Krayk, Bane of Courage, a giant hermit crab. The first phase is confusing: Crayk turns invisible, and the DS’ top screen changes to its point of view. The trick is to shoot it when it’s got Link in its sights, which stuns it an allows Link to attack its shell’s weak points. When the weak points have all been hit, the shell crumbles and the second phase begins. This one is easier: try to attack the face, which it will defend, leaving the actual weak spot on the tail open. With Crayk defeated, Link gets two more minutes’ worth of sand for the Hourglass.
The seal breaks open and the Spirit of Courage is free… but silent, not acknowledging Link or Ciela (who notes the Spirit looks like her). Back at the dock, Oshus is there with Linebeck to offer an explanation: the reason the Spirit looks like Ciela is because it’s part of her. He does a bit of magic that reunites the two halves, and Leaf and Neri come to help her rediscover her powers. She hears Tetra calling for help, which Oshus explains as part of her power to detect evil. With this power, she and the other Spirits will be able to lead Link to the Ghost Ship through the fog. Linebeck again asks Oshus how he knows so much, and Oshus again refuses to answer just yet. (On the other hand, Ciela being the Spirit of Courage explains why Linebeck’s cowardice annoys her so much.)
Next: If you ask me, I’d say she’s up to something, and to be honest, I’d appreciate it if you eased up off my back about it.
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Case Closed
Even after my trip to Spirit Island, I never thought I should start documenting the Power/Wisdom/Courage Gems Link gets. I still thought of them like the “treasures” Link sometimes gets like pearl necklaces and Zora crowns, but they’re more like a collection sidequest along the lines of Skulltulas or Poe Souls, so here are the ones I’ve gotten so far:
Power Gems
Wisdom Gems
Courage Gems
There are four more Link can get now: Astrid gives a Wisdom Gem for completing the Temple of Gust, Oshus gives a Power Gem, and Salvatore mails a Wisdom Gem. Finally, on the way back to the Temple of the Ocean King, there’s a cave Link can bomb into and find another Power Gem.
On this trip to the Temple of the Ocean King, Link has two more minutes’ worth of sand, but has to go through the floors he did the first time, plus three more. Fortunately, having gotten bombs and the shovel since the last trip to the Temple, Link can take advantage of a couple shortcuts on the floors he’s already done. The last old floor still requires gathering the three gems and tossing them into their pedestals, so it still takes a while, but the first two are quick. After the main room on the third floor is cleared, Neri opens the way forward.
The first new floor has new critters called Phantom Eyes, which can help the Phantoms find Link and summon new Phantoms to chase him down. Unlike the Phantoms, they can be defeated if Link stuns them with the Boomerang before they can spot him. When all on the floor are defeated, a chest spawns with another Power Gem. The next floor has no Phantoms or Phantom Eyes, just a couple rooms which spawn ambushes of normal enemies. The third new floor has six stone tablets. One explains that four of the others “govern the crest,” which in this case means Link has to draw a symbol on a tablet to open the way forward, and those tablets are the four points Link needs to draw lines between. (The symbol is an X with an enclosed top and bottom; a stylized hourglass.) The sixth tablet is “cursed”; it summons an extra Phantom Eye. This should be an easy floor to do on repeat visits.
The next safe room has a giant disc with the sun symbol Link and Ciela saw on Molida Island. The disc has an upside-down map of the southwest quadrant with Farore’s symbol marked on it. The instructions read, “Press the sacred crest against the sea chart to transfer it. The Temple of Courage will open to the holder of the Sun Key.” Pressing the sacred crest against the sea chart involves opening the relevant portion of the chart, then closing the DS clamshell. This transfers the mark to the map, but it’s out in the middle of the sea, and Ciela has no idea what to do with it. A portal opens, and Link’s third visit to the Temple ends.
Back in town, a new shop has opened, the Treasure Teller. This guy will buy any of the treasures Link’s picked up to date, and pay nice prices for them. Even the ones he dismisses as “trifles” he pays 50 rupees for [3], and I was able to sell one for 1,500. He’ll also buy unwanted ship parts, as long as they aren’t the base parts that came with the ship. With the haul of rupees Link got here, he was able to visit Beedle and buy another bomb bag upgrade for 1,000 rupees, then wait for the masked guy to show up and finally buy that heart container for 1,500 [4][5].
Next: In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.
[1] Another thing I haven’t mentioned: Beedle’s sailing around the sea, running a shop and giving reward points for spending Rupees at his store.
[2] Late at night, Beedle is replaced by the guy in a mask. As in Wind Waker, he’s got different items and is talking about closing shop.
[3] The same price Eddo thought would be too high for Link to pay for the cannon.
[4] In any other Zelda game, this would be a huge amount. (It’s more than he can carry in any of them except Wind Waker.) Here, I get the feeling that even having spent over 4,000 rupees, I’m just getting started.
[5] The same price as the three spirit gems combined. I probably should have bought this first; it’s more immediately useful.
Power Gems
- Given by Astrid after completing the Temple of Fire (already mentioned).
- Bought for 500 rupees from a shop.
- Found in the bomb flower cave on Cannon Island.
- Found on the Isle of Gust.
- Found in the Temple of Wind.
Wisdom Gems
- Bought for 500 rupees from Beedle [1].
- Found on Zauz’s Island (already mentioned).
- Found by clearing Miniblins in a cave on the Isle of Gust.
Courage Gems
- Found on Spirit Island.
- Bought for 500 rupees from I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beedle [2].
- Found in the Wayfarer’s cave on the Isle of Gust.
- Found in the Temple of Wind.
There are four more Link can get now: Astrid gives a Wisdom Gem for completing the Temple of Gust, Oshus gives a Power Gem, and Salvatore mails a Wisdom Gem. Finally, on the way back to the Temple of the Ocean King, there’s a cave Link can bomb into and find another Power Gem.
On this trip to the Temple of the Ocean King, Link has two more minutes’ worth of sand, but has to go through the floors he did the first time, plus three more. Fortunately, having gotten bombs and the shovel since the last trip to the Temple, Link can take advantage of a couple shortcuts on the floors he’s already done. The last old floor still requires gathering the three gems and tossing them into their pedestals, so it still takes a while, but the first two are quick. After the main room on the third floor is cleared, Neri opens the way forward.
The first new floor has new critters called Phantom Eyes, which can help the Phantoms find Link and summon new Phantoms to chase him down. Unlike the Phantoms, they can be defeated if Link stuns them with the Boomerang before they can spot him. When all on the floor are defeated, a chest spawns with another Power Gem. The next floor has no Phantoms or Phantom Eyes, just a couple rooms which spawn ambushes of normal enemies. The third new floor has six stone tablets. One explains that four of the others “govern the crest,” which in this case means Link has to draw a symbol on a tablet to open the way forward, and those tablets are the four points Link needs to draw lines between. (The symbol is an X with an enclosed top and bottom; a stylized hourglass.) The sixth tablet is “cursed”; it summons an extra Phantom Eye. This should be an easy floor to do on repeat visits.
The next safe room has a giant disc with the sun symbol Link and Ciela saw on Molida Island. The disc has an upside-down map of the southwest quadrant with Farore’s symbol marked on it. The instructions read, “Press the sacred crest against the sea chart to transfer it. The Temple of Courage will open to the holder of the Sun Key.” Pressing the sacred crest against the sea chart involves opening the relevant portion of the chart, then closing the DS clamshell. This transfers the mark to the map, but it’s out in the middle of the sea, and Ciela has no idea what to do with it. A portal opens, and Link’s third visit to the Temple ends.
Back in town, a new shop has opened, the Treasure Teller. This guy will buy any of the treasures Link’s picked up to date, and pay nice prices for them. Even the ones he dismisses as “trifles” he pays 50 rupees for [3], and I was able to sell one for 1,500. He’ll also buy unwanted ship parts, as long as they aren’t the base parts that came with the ship. With the haul of rupees Link got here, he was able to visit Beedle and buy another bomb bag upgrade for 1,000 rupees, then wait for the masked guy to show up and finally buy that heart container for 1,500 [4][5].
Next: In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.
[1] Another thing I haven’t mentioned: Beedle’s sailing around the sea, running a shop and giving reward points for spending Rupees at his store.
[2] Late at night, Beedle is replaced by the guy in a mask. As in Wind Waker, he’s got different items and is talking about closing shop.
[3] The same price Eddo thought would be too high for Link to pay for the cannon.
[4] In any other Zelda game, this would be a huge amount. (It’s more than he can carry in any of them except Wind Waker.) Here, I get the feeling that even having spent over 4,000 rupees, I’m just getting started.
[5] The same price as the three spirit gems combined. I probably should have bought this first; it’s more immediately useful.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Isle of Gust
There are two unmarked islands in the northwest quadrant. One, Zauz’s Island to the north, is mostly uninteresting for now – there’s a treasure chest with a Wisdom Gem, another “draw an X on the mark and dig there” quest to find a treasure map, and Zauz himself, who says he may be able to help Link later, but not yet. The second island is unexplored, meaning Link has to completely draw the map himself. A gossip stone has a poem that suggests Link hit the other gossip stones in a particular order (based on their location and the island’s whale shape); when he does, a bridge appears leading to a cave where Link meets Golden Chief Cylos, leader of the golden frogs he’s seen around the seas. He recognizes Link as a friend of Oshus’ by the Phantom Hourglass, and gives him a Cyclone Slate to aid in his quest. The other golden frogs teach Link symbols he can draw on the slate to be warped by cyclone to their location – even more convenient than quick travel normally is, given the difficulties in going from the southwest to northwest quadrants.
The dungeon mark on the map is on the Isle of Gust, and as one might guess from that name, there are strong winds that blow across the island, making walking difficult. This can interfere with combat, and of course there are jumping puzzles. Sometimes Link has to be careful not to get blown backward as he jumps, sometimes he has to use the wind to make an extra-long jump. And there are geysers he can use to jump up to a higher location. Along the way on the path through the island, Link can use a bomb flower to blast into a cave where the Wayfarer stayed for a bit. His journal notes that he’s gone to chase the mermaid, and he left a map with both his new location marked as well as the two unmarked islands Link explored.
The dungeon entrance is blocked by strong winds, with a tablet nearby saying that shutting the winds off will require manipulating some windmills. In the northwest corner of the island, another tablet clarifies that the hero must blow on three sacred windmills to open the way forward. The windmills are in a giant sandy area, and a nearby gossip stone warns that the area is home to creatures sensitive to sound. So Link has to basically tiptoe through the sand; if he goes too fast, Sandworms (surprisingly, that’s their name and not Moldorms or Lanmolas) pop out from underground to eat him. Link’s options at that point are run, try to trick them into eating a bomb instead, or take it and shake loose before taking too much damage. Once all three windmills are activated, the winds blocking the temple subside and doors open from the sandy area leading back near the entrance.
Inside the Temple of Wind is really a lot like outside, only the winds now come from the walls or statues and can be blocked or turned off. There’s even a windmill puzzle on the second floor, although the solution there involves pushing statues to blow on the windmills rather than Link doing it himself. The bottom floor has more Sandworms and a puzzle involving lighting torches by digging open four geysers. Once both of those puzzles are done, Link can claim the dungeon’s treasure: bombs. The starting bomb bag only holds ten, and while drops are quite common throughout the dungeon, I was constantly afraid of running out so used them sparingly (no blowing up Sandworms, for instance).
The dungeon boss is Cyclok, Stirrer of Winds, a giant Octorokesque creature that floats above Link in a cyclone. He’s got two attacks: come down to Link’s level and charge, and summon cyclones to send at Link. Both are easy enough to dodge, and there are bomb flowers in the arena so Link never has to worry about running out of bombs. There are three spots where non-threatening cyclones appear, and Link can throw a bomb into these and have it explode up where Cyclok floats. If one explodes close enough to Cyclok, he’ll fall to the ground, stunned, for the customary chance for Link to whack him until he gets back up or dies. Just like with Blaaz, the number of hits Cyclok can take is astounding, and I had trouble with timing the bombs, so this fight took a while.
Cyclok explodes into golden dust when becomes two more minutes of enchanted sand for the Phantom Hourglass, and the spirit of wisdom, Neri, emerges from the seal. After she introduces herself, Ciela helpfully chimes in, telling Link who she is in case the player dozed off for five seconds and missed her introduction. Neri agrees to join with Link’s party, and they all go down to the dock to meet with Linebeck and sail off.
Before returning to Mercay Island, there’s one last thing to take care of in the northeast quadrant. Back on Bannan Island, there was a cave that required bombs to fully explore. By blowing a hole in the wall, Link can pass through the cave and find his old friend Salvatore. He’s running a new game that involves riding in a boat and shooting at targets and as bored out of his mind as ever, except when he explains the rules; sadly, no cutouts this time, just a dramatization of the game. Thanks to the DS’ “poke the screen where you want to shoot” controls, the game’s much easier than it would have been in Wind Waker; the big prize is a larger bomb bag.
Next: They really are determined to make use of every last feature of the DS, aren’t they? (Aside from the buttons and D-Pad, I mean.)
The dungeon mark on the map is on the Isle of Gust, and as one might guess from that name, there are strong winds that blow across the island, making walking difficult. This can interfere with combat, and of course there are jumping puzzles. Sometimes Link has to be careful not to get blown backward as he jumps, sometimes he has to use the wind to make an extra-long jump. And there are geysers he can use to jump up to a higher location. Along the way on the path through the island, Link can use a bomb flower to blast into a cave where the Wayfarer stayed for a bit. His journal notes that he’s gone to chase the mermaid, and he left a map with both his new location marked as well as the two unmarked islands Link explored.
The dungeon entrance is blocked by strong winds, with a tablet nearby saying that shutting the winds off will require manipulating some windmills. In the northwest corner of the island, another tablet clarifies that the hero must blow on three sacred windmills to open the way forward. The windmills are in a giant sandy area, and a nearby gossip stone warns that the area is home to creatures sensitive to sound. So Link has to basically tiptoe through the sand; if he goes too fast, Sandworms (surprisingly, that’s their name and not Moldorms or Lanmolas) pop out from underground to eat him. Link’s options at that point are run, try to trick them into eating a bomb instead, or take it and shake loose before taking too much damage. Once all three windmills are activated, the winds blocking the temple subside and doors open from the sandy area leading back near the entrance.
Inside the Temple of Wind is really a lot like outside, only the winds now come from the walls or statues and can be blocked or turned off. There’s even a windmill puzzle on the second floor, although the solution there involves pushing statues to blow on the windmills rather than Link doing it himself. The bottom floor has more Sandworms and a puzzle involving lighting torches by digging open four geysers. Once both of those puzzles are done, Link can claim the dungeon’s treasure: bombs. The starting bomb bag only holds ten, and while drops are quite common throughout the dungeon, I was constantly afraid of running out so used them sparingly (no blowing up Sandworms, for instance).
The dungeon boss is Cyclok, Stirrer of Winds, a giant Octorokesque creature that floats above Link in a cyclone. He’s got two attacks: come down to Link’s level and charge, and summon cyclones to send at Link. Both are easy enough to dodge, and there are bomb flowers in the arena so Link never has to worry about running out of bombs. There are three spots where non-threatening cyclones appear, and Link can throw a bomb into these and have it explode up where Cyclok floats. If one explodes close enough to Cyclok, he’ll fall to the ground, stunned, for the customary chance for Link to whack him until he gets back up or dies. Just like with Blaaz, the number of hits Cyclok can take is astounding, and I had trouble with timing the bombs, so this fight took a while.
Cyclok explodes into golden dust when becomes two more minutes of enchanted sand for the Phantom Hourglass, and the spirit of wisdom, Neri, emerges from the seal. After she introduces herself, Ciela helpfully chimes in, telling Link who she is in case the player dozed off for five seconds and missed her introduction. Neri agrees to join with Link’s party, and they all go down to the dock to meet with Linebeck and sail off.
Before returning to Mercay Island, there’s one last thing to take care of in the northeast quadrant. Back on Bannan Island, there was a cave that required bombs to fully explore. By blowing a hole in the wall, Link can pass through the cave and find his old friend Salvatore. He’s running a new game that involves riding in a boat and shooting at targets and as bored out of his mind as ever, except when he explains the rules; sadly, no cutouts this time, just a dramatization of the game. Thanks to the DS’ “poke the screen where you want to shoot” controls, the game’s much easier than it would have been in Wind Waker; the big prize is a larger bomb bag.
Next: They really are determined to make use of every last feature of the DS, aren’t they? (Aside from the buttons and D-Pad, I mean.)
Friday, August 2, 2019
Phantom Hourglass: Following the Wayfarer
In the western part of the southwest sea, there’s an island surrounded by a minefield. The island is Molida Island, and it seems to be home to a sailor who eventually found his way to Link’s next destination, the Isle of Gust. His son’s kind of peeved about him chasing adventure and abandoning his family, but eventually tells Link to look in the cave where his father used as a “hideaway.” The hideaways filled with monsters – mostly red ChuChus, but there’s a Geozard miniboss to get by. The Geozard needs to be stunned by being hit from behind with the boomerang before Link can attack it and move on.
In a room blocked by a bombable wall, Link finds the Wayfarer’s journal, which indicates that he had a second hiding spot, hidden underground at the place where the lines between the stone tablets he left on the island intersect. There’s also a shovel in a treasure chest, so all those places where something’s obviously buried can be dug up. The lines intersect under a palm tree near the Wayfarer’s house, and when Link digs there, he finds a hole leading to the true hideaway. The Wayfarer’s left a letter of apology to his son for abandoning him. More importantly, he’s left a map showing the way through the ghost ship’s fog. There’s also a locked door with a sun symbol that Ciela notes Link should remember for later.
Before following the path, there are two things to check out in the southwest quadrant. First, Link can board a traveler’s ship to find it overrun with Miniblins and the traveler laying facedown in the middle. When Link gets rid of the (other) boarders and checks on the traveler, he finds the traveler’s alive but playing dead. When he eventually realizes his guest is not hostile, he gets up and introduces himself as Nyave of the Maritime Defense Force and gives Link a treasure as a reward. Second, a unmarked island lies in the middle of a triangle of rocks. On the island, Link finds a shrine whose spirit explains the use for the various gems he’s been collecting: they power up the spirits who are helping him. But Link’s only got one spirit, and two gems for that spirit, and it takes ten to power up a spirit, so this will have to wait until later.
The Wayfarer’s path works, and Link guides Linebeck’s ship through the fog and to the rest of the northwest quadrant. There are two islands here, so Link starts with the one where the temple isn’t, Bannan Island. The Wayfarer has resettled here and calls it the Wayfaring Island. He’s come to the island looking for a mermaid, intending to capture her and keep her in a small pool in his hut. After learning of the mermaid, Link can see her in the water near the island. She’ll swim away if he gets to close, but he can thwack her with the boomerang to prevent that. She’s reasonably annoyed at being thwacked with a boomerang and demands an apology from Link – revealing in the process she’s a human who likes dressing as a mermaid [1] and going for swims. Heh. When she learns about the Wayfarer, she thinks it would be interesting to hang with him and listen to his stories – but she finds Linebeck first and mistakes him for the Wayfarer. Double heh. She eventually finds her way to the actual Wayfarer, who give Link a fishing rod as a reward for his role in helping him meet the mermaid.
Fishing in Phantom Hourglass is the most fun incarnation yet. The controls are simple and intuitive – hold at the bottom of the touchscreen in the opposite direction the fish is trying to swim away, make circles to reel it in, and lift off the screen when the fish jumps. Link first catches a small Skippyjack, then returns to the Wayfarer, who tells him there are bigger fish out there. Link catches two bigger types, Toona and Loovar, and the Wayfarer rewards him for his catches with a Big Catch Lure. This lets him catch Rusty Swordfish, and the Wayfarer tells him about the ultimate big fish: Neptoona. Now, a bigger fish shadow sometimes appears in the overworld, and it usually has a Rusty Swordfish, but after trying long enough, Link can catch Neptoona and return it to the Wayfarer for a heart container [2].
Nyave mentioned a heroic brother to the north, and Link can find his boat sailing the waters in the northwest quadrant. You can tell he’s a hero, because his clothes are basically Link’s with a few alterations. And his ship is called the Prince of Red Lions. He takes Link as an apprentice, and teaches him swordfighting, culminating in a challenge reminiscent of Orca’s from Wind Waker: hit him as many times as possible before getting hit three times. (He doesn’t actually fight with a sword, but… some kind of pitchfork/trident thing.) Getting over a hundred hits gets another heart container as a reward.
Next: Braving the winds.
[1] She says “mythical creature” referring to mermaids, which struck me as weird, but the only other merfolk in the series thus far are the one from Link’s Awakening and Link wearing the mermaid suit in Oracle of Ages. (And there are Zoras, who are certainly mermish.)
[2] A full container, not just a piece. I guess Phantom Hourglass is simplifying.
In a room blocked by a bombable wall, Link finds the Wayfarer’s journal, which indicates that he had a second hiding spot, hidden underground at the place where the lines between the stone tablets he left on the island intersect. There’s also a shovel in a treasure chest, so all those places where something’s obviously buried can be dug up. The lines intersect under a palm tree near the Wayfarer’s house, and when Link digs there, he finds a hole leading to the true hideaway. The Wayfarer’s left a letter of apology to his son for abandoning him. More importantly, he’s left a map showing the way through the ghost ship’s fog. There’s also a locked door with a sun symbol that Ciela notes Link should remember for later.
Before following the path, there are two things to check out in the southwest quadrant. First, Link can board a traveler’s ship to find it overrun with Miniblins and the traveler laying facedown in the middle. When Link gets rid of the (other) boarders and checks on the traveler, he finds the traveler’s alive but playing dead. When he eventually realizes his guest is not hostile, he gets up and introduces himself as Nyave of the Maritime Defense Force and gives Link a treasure as a reward. Second, a unmarked island lies in the middle of a triangle of rocks. On the island, Link finds a shrine whose spirit explains the use for the various gems he’s been collecting: they power up the spirits who are helping him. But Link’s only got one spirit, and two gems for that spirit, and it takes ten to power up a spirit, so this will have to wait until later.
The Wayfarer’s path works, and Link guides Linebeck’s ship through the fog and to the rest of the northwest quadrant. There are two islands here, so Link starts with the one where the temple isn’t, Bannan Island. The Wayfarer has resettled here and calls it the Wayfaring Island. He’s come to the island looking for a mermaid, intending to capture her and keep her in a small pool in his hut. After learning of the mermaid, Link can see her in the water near the island. She’ll swim away if he gets to close, but he can thwack her with the boomerang to prevent that. She’s reasonably annoyed at being thwacked with a boomerang and demands an apology from Link – revealing in the process she’s a human who likes dressing as a mermaid [1] and going for swims. Heh. When she learns about the Wayfarer, she thinks it would be interesting to hang with him and listen to his stories – but she finds Linebeck first and mistakes him for the Wayfarer. Double heh. She eventually finds her way to the actual Wayfarer, who give Link a fishing rod as a reward for his role in helping him meet the mermaid.
Fishing in Phantom Hourglass is the most fun incarnation yet. The controls are simple and intuitive – hold at the bottom of the touchscreen in the opposite direction the fish is trying to swim away, make circles to reel it in, and lift off the screen when the fish jumps. Link first catches a small Skippyjack, then returns to the Wayfarer, who tells him there are bigger fish out there. Link catches two bigger types, Toona and Loovar, and the Wayfarer rewards him for his catches with a Big Catch Lure. This lets him catch Rusty Swordfish, and the Wayfarer tells him about the ultimate big fish: Neptoona. Now, a bigger fish shadow sometimes appears in the overworld, and it usually has a Rusty Swordfish, but after trying long enough, Link can catch Neptoona and return it to the Wayfarer for a heart container [2].
Nyave mentioned a heroic brother to the north, and Link can find his boat sailing the waters in the northwest quadrant. You can tell he’s a hero, because his clothes are basically Link’s with a few alterations. And his ship is called the Prince of Red Lions. He takes Link as an apprentice, and teaches him swordfighting, culminating in a challenge reminiscent of Orca’s from Wind Waker: hit him as many times as possible before getting hit three times. (He doesn’t actually fight with a sword, but… some kind of pitchfork/trident thing.) Getting over a hundred hits gets another heart container as a reward.
Next: Braving the winds.
[1] She says “mythical creature” referring to mermaids, which struck me as weird, but the only other merfolk in the series thus far are the one from Link’s Awakening and Link wearing the mermaid suit in Oracle of Ages. (And there are Zoras, who are certainly mermish.)
[2] A full container, not just a piece. I guess Phantom Hourglass is simplifying.
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