- It’s a sequel to Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass.
- Instead of a boat, Link now has a train.
- Zelda is, or becomes, a ghost at some point (Hyrule Warriors: “Spirit Princess of Hyrule”). In this form, she can possess suits of armor. Actually, looking at the box art, that kind of looks like a Phantom.
- One of the items in the game is the Sand Wand. Based on the Hyrule Warriors weaponized version, I’d guess it’s like the Cane of Somaria only the block is made of sand instead of magic. Or maybe it summons trains.
“This is a tale from long ago. It’s the tale of the first settlers of this land. In the beginning, the people followed the spirits of good, and all was peaceful. But that era of peace soon came to an end.
“The evil Demon King rose to power, destroying everything in his path. The spirits of good had no choice but to face him in battle.
“The war that ensued seemed to last an eternity, and much blood was shed. Finally the spirits subdued the Demon King, though they could not destroy him. Their powers were greatly depleted.
“With their remaining power, they buried the Demon King’s spirit in the ground. They built shackles to imprison him, and a tower that acted as a lock. These shackles cover the land to this day.
“With their power drained, the spirits of good returned to the heavens. Suddenly bereft of both demons and spirits, this land was entrusted to us.”
Unsaid in this is that this is the land the Hyrulean people found to call home. (Also Hyrule, even if it’s not the one buried under the Great Sea.) A discussion with a man at the train station in Castle Town draws a firmer link between the Demon Lord’s shackles and the rails that cover the land, and the rails have apparently been there since before the Hyruleans came to New Hyrule, so those “first settlers” are people who were there beforehand.
Once again, the backstory is narrated and illustrated by Niko, only a lot of time has gone by, because he’s now an old man. He’s telling the story to his roommate, Link. Only, because it’s the start of the game, Link has fallen asleep during the story, and Niko’s irritated. Link’s mentor, Alfonzo – who resembles Gonzo of Tetra’s crew – comes in and shakes Link awake. This version of Link is an apprentice engineer, and he’s supposed to be graduating today, meeting Princess Zelda at the ceremony. Link’s hometown, Aboda Village, has the obvious tutorial stuff. Link gets taught to pick up rocks, roll into trees (rolling is now done by double tapping the screen, much easier) and run away from bees, getting rewarded with rupees and a treasure for his efforts. Finally, he reports to Alfonzo at the train station.
Link gets to drive the train from Aboda Village to Castle Town, setting up the tutorial for driving the train. (It’s got a time limit of five minutes, but that’s really not a concern). The train moves on its own, but Link can adjust the gear (there’s four: fast, slow, stop, and reverse). As he approaches junctions, Link has to choose which direction the train will go. There are two types of hazards on this trip. First and simplest, moinks (pigs whose colors and markings look like Holstein cows – moo + oink?) will wander onto the train track and Link has to blow the whistle to scare them off. More troublesome, there are other trains on the tracks, and they’re incapable of avoiding Link’s train, so Link has to avoid them. Despite the hearts, one train crash sends Link back to his village to be yelled at by Alfonzo. As the train nears Castle Town, Alfonzo points out the Tower of Spirits, the “lock” on the Demon Lord’s shackles. The player has to manually stop the train at the station, which makes sense but was a bit of a shock.
In Castle Town, Link finds the man at the station who clarifies some of the things from the introduction; he also mentions that once Link graduates he’ll be able to carry stuff around and give people rides. The mailbox is bouncing to indicate Link’s got a letter. The postman – similar to the one from Phantom Hourglass, only without wings so he runs to the mailbox imitating a train. The post office has had complaints in the years between games, so the postman no longer violates mail privacy by reading the letters aloud, and instead just gives Link the letter to read from the menu at his convenience. The letter is, once again, from the postmaster, essentially as a test of the mail service and encouraging Link to be nice to the postman. There’s not a whole lot else to do right now, so Link heads into the castle for his graduation ceremony.
Next: Lightning and towers is a bad sign.
