After being forced out of Zelda’s body, Ganon reincorporates and turns into a pig-lion dark beast. He’s got three basic moves: running a ring around the throne room and eventually teleporting, charging at Link, or trying to drop on Link. When he materializes after teleporting, or during his charge, Link has a chance to hit his forehead with an arrow, which causes him to roll onto his side and give Link some free shots at the scar on his chest. Eventually he catches wise to how Link’s fighting and teleports away the second before an arrow would hit him, and Midna suggests matching him beast for beast. Link turns into the wolf and can grapple a charging Ganon and toss him aside – a throwback to doing the same with Gorons, or the sumo wrestling. After enough hits, Ganon falls.
With Ganon down, the gift Zelda gave Midna to heal her returns to Zelda, and she wakes up. They express the understanding they gained while Zelda’s spirit was inside Midna, but are rudely interrupted when Ganon starts preparing for the next phase of the battle. Midna summons the Fused Shadow, teleports Link and Zelda outside before they can stop her, and turns into the gigantic twilight beast to fight Ganon herself. Link and Zelda materialize in Hyrule Field and can only watch as Hyrule Castle fscking explodes, and when the dust settles, Ganon is sitting on his black stallion holding Midna’s helmet. He crushes the helmet and summons phantom riders to come after Link and Zelda. [1] Zelda calls on the light spirits, who teleport Link and Zelda away before they’re run over and give Zelda light arrows to fight Ganon.
Link and Zelda return to the field on Epona, leading to a chase fight where Zelda shoots Ganon with the arrows and then Link takes advantage of the stun to move in for sword attacks. After enough of this, Ganon’s horse falls, but he gets up to challenge Link one last time. He summons a barrier around the two of them for a final sword fight, Chosen Hero vs. Dark Lord. Mortal Drawing doesn’t work very well against him (maybe it does and I just couldn’t get the timing right, but either way, I wasn’t able to use it), but the Back Slice does okay. Eventually, Link will knock Ganon down and have a chance to land an Ending Blow.
Ganon screams as Link plunges the Master Sword into his chest, but is still able to get back up, still defiant. However, his defeat causes the Triforce of Power to abandon him, leaving him just a mortal man. A mortal man run through by a sword. Ganon sees a vision of Zant, who tilts his head to the side breaking his neck, and Ganon dies. The light spirits appear again, with a silhouette that resembles Midna’s, and Link runs to check it out. He finds a cloaked woman kneeling, and the woman – Midna, restored to her true Twili form – turns to look at him and smiles. And just in case there’s any doubt it’s Midna, she speaks with the familiar voice and irreverent tone, “What? Say something! Am I so beautiful that you’ve no more words left?”
The credits roll with the expected scenes of life going on in Hyrule now that the threat has passed. Highlights include a big line of people in Hyrule Castle Town doing the Malo Mart dance, Rutela still watching over her son, hearts floating over the yetis’ home, Telma’s group investigating the area around the Temple of Time, and of course the Ordon Village homecoming and reunions. There’s a mid-credits scene in the Mirror Chamber as Midna returns to her world. Zelda says the Mirror was left so that they could meet. As Midna’s leaving, she crystalizes a tear and sends it into the Mirror, causing it to crack, and once she’s gone, the Mirror shatters. The final scenes of the game echo the beginning: Fado runs up to Link’s house, calling for him; over by the road, Ilia watches as Link rides off on Epona.
Twilight Princess has got a great supporting cast, headlined of course by Midna, the best advisor companion yet, and a wide variety of memorable supporting players. The dungeons and bosses are all among the best in the series. It’s definitely in the top tier of Zelda games for me, along with A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, and Majora’s Mask.
[1] When it became apparent I was going to need to split this post from the Hyrule Castle post, this was where I thought I should leave off.
Showing posts with label Twilight Princess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twilight Princess. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Monday, June 10, 2019
Twilight Princess: Hyrule Castle
Before I start, a word about fishing. I tried, I really did. I actually got okay at it. But the tenth time I caught that same fscking greengill, I decided finding out what the other three types of fish are could wait until I take on the Wii U version, where I’ll try to remember to catch a fish every time I’m near water. I don’t see the appeal of fishing in real life, and playing a simulated version is about doubly meh. Aside from that, there’s nothing left to do (aside from stocking up on consumables), so Link heads to the twilight barrier around Hyrule Castle. Midna takes the moment and brings together the Fused Shadow. Its power overwhelms her at first and sends her bouncing against and eventually over the walls, but she emerges as a giant twilight beast that summons a light spear that shatters the barrier. The scene cuts to Midna, back in her imp form, waking up in Link’s arms as the Hyrule Castle fanfare plays.
Before entering Hyrule Castle, Link and Midna explore the grounds. There are two keys, the map, and lots of rupees to collect out here. One of the keys is held by King Bulblin, who challenges Link to one last sword fight. When it becomes apparent Link is the better swordsman, the King admits defeat and hands over the key, saying, “I follow the strongest side. That is all I have ever known.” As he walks away, Midna emerges from Link’s shadow, astonished that King Bulblin can actually speak.
The first part of the castle interior is a short mix of puzzles and combat. After the first two rooms, the path branches and Link can go one of two ways. The first way is mostly fighting, including another fight against two Darknuts that for some reason gave me more trouble than the fight against three of them in the Cave of Ordeals. At the end of the path, Link can either go forward, or back to the entryway to collect the last two treasure chests and go back and try the other path. (The level designer thought of completionists, hooray!) The other path doesn’t have any enemies harder than Dinolfos, but there’s a tricky puzzle involving lighting torches while being swarmed by Keese.
Out in the courtyard, as Link approaches the chest with the big key, a bunch of enemies stand in his way. Then the archers get shot down, the ones charging at Link explode, and a hawk flies down to Rusl, who’s there with the others from Telma’s bar. Rusl waves, Link nods, and as the group continues on their way, Link heads into the tower. The puzzle there is a simple one once you know what to do: the floor tiles collapse, but there are ghosts Wolf Link can see who’ll point him in the right direction. The stairs up the tower are half missing; one set requires Spider-Linking between grates on the wall to pass, the last brings out the Spinner for one last ride. Then Link fights one final Darknut, and uses the last key to open a room full of chests and pots that make sure he’s well-stocked before heading to fight Ganon.
As Link and Midna enter the throne room, they find a lifeless Zelda suspended in a broken statue depicting the goddesses and Triforce. Ganon, sitting on the throne, holding the sword used to try to execute him, with a giant glowing scar on his chest, welcomes them. He talks about the Twili, how their anguish over their banishment served to help him grow strong, but their power pales before that of the Triforce. When he claims that his link with the Triforce of Power makes him fit to be king, Midna defiantly scoffs at him. Ganon is amused and welcomes the challenge, and moves toward Zelda. Midna tries to protect her, but Ganon splinters into twilight and passes by. Zelda is unharmed – but Ganon has possessed her. Midna moves to strike, but can’t bring herself to do it. She gets blown back, and as Link runs to her, a twilight barrier pops up separating them. Ganon’s puppet Zelda floats down with a few last words about their defiance, and the boss fight begins.
Puppet Zelda has three attacks: charging, creating a glowing triangle on the ground, and throwing an energy ball at Link. The last is the important one, and Link needs to bounce the attack back at her – the old familiar game. After three successfully reflected attacks, Ganon is weakened enough that the barrier comes down, and is powerless as Midna uses the Fused Shadow to drive Ganon out of Zelda’s body. Then, in a great little moment, she comes and leans against Link’s shoulder and the two smile at each other, even as Ganon begins to reincorporate.
Next: Link vs. Ganon.
Before entering Hyrule Castle, Link and Midna explore the grounds. There are two keys, the map, and lots of rupees to collect out here. One of the keys is held by King Bulblin, who challenges Link to one last sword fight. When it becomes apparent Link is the better swordsman, the King admits defeat and hands over the key, saying, “I follow the strongest side. That is all I have ever known.” As he walks away, Midna emerges from Link’s shadow, astonished that King Bulblin can actually speak.
The first part of the castle interior is a short mix of puzzles and combat. After the first two rooms, the path branches and Link can go one of two ways. The first way is mostly fighting, including another fight against two Darknuts that for some reason gave me more trouble than the fight against three of them in the Cave of Ordeals. At the end of the path, Link can either go forward, or back to the entryway to collect the last two treasure chests and go back and try the other path. (The level designer thought of completionists, hooray!) The other path doesn’t have any enemies harder than Dinolfos, but there’s a tricky puzzle involving lighting torches while being swarmed by Keese.
Out in the courtyard, as Link approaches the chest with the big key, a bunch of enemies stand in his way. Then the archers get shot down, the ones charging at Link explode, and a hawk flies down to Rusl, who’s there with the others from Telma’s bar. Rusl waves, Link nods, and as the group continues on their way, Link heads into the tower. The puzzle there is a simple one once you know what to do: the floor tiles collapse, but there are ghosts Wolf Link can see who’ll point him in the right direction. The stairs up the tower are half missing; one set requires Spider-Linking between grates on the wall to pass, the last brings out the Spinner for one last ride. Then Link fights one final Darknut, and uses the last key to open a room full of chests and pots that make sure he’s well-stocked before heading to fight Ganon.
As Link and Midna enter the throne room, they find a lifeless Zelda suspended in a broken statue depicting the goddesses and Triforce. Ganon, sitting on the throne, holding the sword used to try to execute him, with a giant glowing scar on his chest, welcomes them. He talks about the Twili, how their anguish over their banishment served to help him grow strong, but their power pales before that of the Triforce. When he claims that his link with the Triforce of Power makes him fit to be king, Midna defiantly scoffs at him. Ganon is amused and welcomes the challenge, and moves toward Zelda. Midna tries to protect her, but Ganon splinters into twilight and passes by. Zelda is unharmed – but Ganon has possessed her. Midna moves to strike, but can’t bring herself to do it. She gets blown back, and as Link runs to her, a twilight barrier pops up separating them. Ganon’s puppet Zelda floats down with a few last words about their defiance, and the boss fight begins.
Puppet Zelda has three attacks: charging, creating a glowing triangle on the ground, and throwing an energy ball at Link. The last is the important one, and Link needs to bounce the attack back at her – the old familiar game. After three successfully reflected attacks, Ganon is weakened enough that the barrier comes down, and is powerless as Midna uses the Fused Shadow to drive Ganon out of Zelda’s body. Then, in a great little moment, she comes and leans against Link’s shoulder and the two smile at each other, even as Ganon begins to reincorporate.
Next: Link vs. Ganon.
Friday, June 7, 2019
Twilight Princess: Palace of Twilight
As Link and Midna prepare to begin exploring the Palace of Twilight, she has one last request for Link: That she be allowed to hide in his shadow until they finish. She’s embarrassed about her transformation, and would rather her people not see her like that. There are some Twili hanging around in the outside area; they’re cursed, but not as fully transformed as the ones Link’s been fighting under the portals. They’re also not hostile to Link, so he can go about his business.
The main objective for the first part of the dungeon is to get two sols, balls of solid light, and return them to the starting area. When deposited into sockets, they open up hard light platforms that help Link find the way forward. Complications in this endeavor include patches of dark fog, which turn Link back into the wolf, the various shadow enemies Link has fought up to this point, and new enemies which are giant versions of Zant’s helmet that spit fireballs at Link finally giving a good chance to use the shield bash ability to reflect projectiles. At the end of each path, Link fights a phantom version of Zant that teleports all around the room, trying to summon swarms of enemies. The trick for these fights is catching the phantom at the perfect moment where it’s too late for it to teleport away, but still before the summon can be completed.
After defeating each phantom Zant, Link can knock a sol out of a nearby hand holding it. The hands function as a combination of the various master enemies and Phanto from Super Mario Bros. 2 [1]: they will relentlessly chase after the sol, trying to get it back. Unlike Phanto, they can be temporarily stunned with arrows. Getting back to the courtyard requires an intricate dance of using the sol to disperse the dark fog, placing it to create the platforms leading forward, and grabbing it with the Clawshot before the hand scoops it up. Along the way back, Link can claim the 44th and 45th heart pieces, completing that collection.
Once both sols have been returned to the courtyard, they open a staircase leading forward. They also imbue the Master Sword with their light, allowing it to disperse the dark fog and do more damage to the shadow foes. (This is the closest the dungeon comes to having a treasure item.) The rest of the dungeon is a platforming climb up the central tower, culminating in a room filled with dark fog and shadow enemies and, surprisingly, not a lot of useful items for the fight with Zant.
Zant greets Link and Midna by telling him his story. He believed the Twili royal family was weak for accepting their exile into the Twilight Realm rather than fighting back, and only put up with them because he believed he’d be the next king. When he was passed over for Midna, his despair led him right to Ganon. Ganon gave him the power to take over the Twilight Realm and the world of light, spreading darkness and… well, Zant doesn’t say it, but his actions let Ganon leave the Twilight Realm to take another shot at conquering Hyrule. Throughout the cutscene, Zant’s behavior becomes more erratic – twisting himself in odd ways, and a petulant display hopping around when he talks about being passed over. (This is actually more like the weird Zant from Hyrule Warriors. On the topic of that game, I recognized the inspiration for a lot of the attacks he uses.) Once he’s done speaking, the battle with the usurper king begins.
The first five phases of the fight recreate elements from earlier boss/miniboss fights:
Defeating Zant didn’t restore Midna’s form, and he taunts her that she was transformed with Ganon’s power, so of course it did nothing. Midna says the reason he was passed over to rule was because he has the same lust for power that led the gods to banish the Twili’s ancestors in the first place. Zant says Ganon will resurrect him, before Midna’s hair grows into three long tendrils that stab him, causing him to explode. Midna’s horrified by just how powerful she is now – she only used a little bit of it killing Zant – but she also can give Zelda back her own power and save Hyrule.
Next: One castle stormed and false king dethroned, one to go.
[1] The American game by that name, not The Lost Levels.
The main objective for the first part of the dungeon is to get two sols, balls of solid light, and return them to the starting area. When deposited into sockets, they open up hard light platforms that help Link find the way forward. Complications in this endeavor include patches of dark fog, which turn Link back into the wolf, the various shadow enemies Link has fought up to this point, and new enemies which are giant versions of Zant’s helmet that spit fireballs at Link finally giving a good chance to use the shield bash ability to reflect projectiles. At the end of each path, Link fights a phantom version of Zant that teleports all around the room, trying to summon swarms of enemies. The trick for these fights is catching the phantom at the perfect moment where it’s too late for it to teleport away, but still before the summon can be completed.
After defeating each phantom Zant, Link can knock a sol out of a nearby hand holding it. The hands function as a combination of the various master enemies and Phanto from Super Mario Bros. 2 [1]: they will relentlessly chase after the sol, trying to get it back. Unlike Phanto, they can be temporarily stunned with arrows. Getting back to the courtyard requires an intricate dance of using the sol to disperse the dark fog, placing it to create the platforms leading forward, and grabbing it with the Clawshot before the hand scoops it up. Along the way back, Link can claim the 44th and 45th heart pieces, completing that collection.
Once both sols have been returned to the courtyard, they open a staircase leading forward. They also imbue the Master Sword with their light, allowing it to disperse the dark fog and do more damage to the shadow foes. (This is the closest the dungeon comes to having a treasure item.) The rest of the dungeon is a platforming climb up the central tower, culminating in a room filled with dark fog and shadow enemies and, surprisingly, not a lot of useful items for the fight with Zant.
Zant greets Link and Midna by telling him his story. He believed the Twili royal family was weak for accepting their exile into the Twilight Realm rather than fighting back, and only put up with them because he believed he’d be the next king. When he was passed over for Midna, his despair led him right to Ganon. Ganon gave him the power to take over the Twilight Realm and the world of light, spreading darkness and… well, Zant doesn’t say it, but his actions let Ganon leave the Twilight Realm to take another shot at conquering Hyrule. Throughout the cutscene, Zant’s behavior becomes more erratic – twisting himself in odd ways, and a petulant display hopping around when he talks about being passed over. (This is actually more like the weird Zant from Hyrule Warriors. On the topic of that game, I recognized the inspiration for a lot of the attacks he uses.) Once he’s done speaking, the battle with the usurper king begins.
The first five phases of the fight recreate elements from earlier boss/miniboss fights:
- Diababa – Zant teleports around, shooting energy at Link. Link can grab him with the Gale Boomerang to bring him closer for sword attacks.
- Dangoro – Zant jumps around the metal plate, trying to shake Link off. Link can hold on with the iron boots, then chase Zant down when he tries to shoot energy at him.
- Morpheel – Underwater; Zant appears inside a giant version of his helmet, then later, one of four helmets. Link pulls him out via Clawshot.
- Ook – Zant shoots energy from the top of pillars. Link knocks him off, causing him to land on his head and get stuck.
- Blizzeta – On ice; Zant grows enormous and flies around, trying to land on Link. Link dodges and smashes Zant’s foot with the flail, causing him to shrink as he hops around holding his foot. This was the worst phase; getting enough traction to chase Zant down to stab him was tough.
Defeating Zant didn’t restore Midna’s form, and he taunts her that she was transformed with Ganon’s power, so of course it did nothing. Midna says the reason he was passed over to rule was because he has the same lust for power that led the gods to banish the Twili’s ancestors in the first place. Zant says Ganon will resurrect him, before Midna’s hair grows into three long tendrils that stab him, causing him to explode. Midna’s horrified by just how powerful she is now – she only used a little bit of it killing Zant – but she also can give Zelda back her own power and save Hyrule.
Next: One castle stormed and false king dethroned, one to go.
[1] The American game by that name, not The Lost Levels.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Twilight Princess: Princess of Twilight
Getting down from the sky involves getting shot out of a cannon again. I’m not sure about the physics here, but Link and Midna were okay jumping off the bridge into Lake Hylia when it was more like Puddle Hylia, so, whatever. (Also, think of the catgirls.) The postman has two letters for Link. The first is from Ooccoo and Jr.; Jr.’ s excited, while Ooccoo thanks Link for everything he’s done for them. The second letter is from Purlo, challenging Link to a new version of the STAR game.
Link finds this version of the game has a lot more balls of light to collect, and no platforms to help. Of course, he’s got the Double Clawshots now to zip around the room; it’s a matter of finding the lines of lights to zip along while the fangirls squee. Beaten again, Purlo gives Link the second quiver upgrade and seems to have lost his desire to challenge him further. Out in Hyrule, there are a couple Clawshot targets that Link couldn’t properly explore until he got the second Clawshot. Now he has both and can get to the chests: one has rupees, the other a heart piece.
Back when Link repaired the Bridge of Eldin, he opened the way into the Cave of Ordeals, a gauntlet challenge similar to Wind Waker’s Savage Labyrinth. It’s fifty levels divided into five sets: nine levels of enemies followed by a visit from the Great Fairy. The Great Fairy doesn’t heal Link; in fact, there’s almost no healing available in the Cave aside from what Link brings with him. There are a couple groups of ChuChus, and Link has to be quick if he doesn’t want to take his chances with purple jelly which has a random effect because they spawn in huge groups with only a few blues/reds (and sometimes a yellow, which is probably standing in for a rare one) that quickly combine. And there are a few places where Wolf Link can dig to find rupees (to further power the magic armor) or hearts.
For the most part, the combat in the Cave is simply a matter of keeping everything in front of Link and hacking away until everything’s dead. Complications include the ghoul rats which are only visible to Wolf Link using his senses and slow his movements and hordes of small enemies that can slip through Link’s defense. There doesn’t seem to be any theme to the levels, unlike in the Savage Labyrinth where each the first four set’s foes appeared in collections based on the same dungeon. Each set of levels after the first requires using the items from the dungeons to access: Arbiter’s Grounds (spinner), Snowpeak Ruins (flail), Temple of Time (dominion rod), and City in the Sky (double clawhots).
The last level of the fourth set pits Link against a pair of Darknuts. Three of the final four groups of enemies are worse: a bunch of Chilfos (the enemy that gave me the worst trouble out of anything in the whole gauntlet) backed by a couple Freezards with the ghoul rats hanging around, a Darknut with a pair of Aeralfos, and finally three Darknuts. The good news is, I quickly got the hang of the second phase of the Darknut fight. (Dodge their attack and counterattack. Seems obvious in hindsight, really.)
The rewards for making it through the Cave of Ordeals: For the first four visits with the Great Fairy, fairies appear in a spirit’s spring. With the final one, Link gets a bottle of Great Fairy’s Tears, and they become available at the springs. (This is the source Jovani spoke of.) Link can only get them from the spring if he doesn’t already have a bottle of them, but I guess the game figures since I didn’t use them getting through the Cave of Ordeals, it’s not going to break the game for me to have two bottles of them (plus a rare ChuChu jelly) at once.
Oh, and speaking of Jovani: the final three Poe souls are in the Cave of Ordeals. Cured of his condition, he runs off to find his girlfriend, giving Link 200 rupees. Link can find him at Telma’s Bar, and things didn’t go so well – his girlfriend apparently prefers guys who haven’t been touched by Midas, and moved on in the meantime. (Shad, meanwhile, seems happy that his project got completed, not minding that he wasn’t there to see it through.) If Link returns to Jovani’s home, Jovani’s cat will give Link another 200 rupees.
With the missing shards of the Mirror of Twilight, Link and Midna head back to the Mirror Chamber. With the Mirror reassembled, Midna talks about how the Twilight Realm isn’t so bad, or wasn’t until Ganon showed up. The sages take the blame for that, and ask her forgiveness, calling her Twilight Princess. A couple flashbacks play, showing Zant turning Midna from her true form (only vaguely seen) to the familiar one she’s occupied the full game, Midna discovering her helmet (is this a piece of the Fused Shadow? I don’t remember if that got confirmed), and Midna watching as Link becomes the prophesied Divine Beast. She admits that at first she didn’t care about saving the Light World, but Link’s heroism and Zelda’s sacrifices have made her realize she has to save both. She’s sure once Zant is dealt with, she’ll be back to her true form and they can resurrect Zelda, and she and Link head into the Twilight Realm to confront him.
Next: Lighting up the twilight.
Link finds this version of the game has a lot more balls of light to collect, and no platforms to help. Of course, he’s got the Double Clawshots now to zip around the room; it’s a matter of finding the lines of lights to zip along while the fangirls squee. Beaten again, Purlo gives Link the second quiver upgrade and seems to have lost his desire to challenge him further. Out in Hyrule, there are a couple Clawshot targets that Link couldn’t properly explore until he got the second Clawshot. Now he has both and can get to the chests: one has rupees, the other a heart piece.
Back when Link repaired the Bridge of Eldin, he opened the way into the Cave of Ordeals, a gauntlet challenge similar to Wind Waker’s Savage Labyrinth. It’s fifty levels divided into five sets: nine levels of enemies followed by a visit from the Great Fairy. The Great Fairy doesn’t heal Link; in fact, there’s almost no healing available in the Cave aside from what Link brings with him. There are a couple groups of ChuChus, and Link has to be quick if he doesn’t want to take his chances with purple jelly which has a random effect because they spawn in huge groups with only a few blues/reds (and sometimes a yellow, which is probably standing in for a rare one) that quickly combine. And there are a few places where Wolf Link can dig to find rupees (to further power the magic armor) or hearts.
For the most part, the combat in the Cave is simply a matter of keeping everything in front of Link and hacking away until everything’s dead. Complications include the ghoul rats which are only visible to Wolf Link using his senses and slow his movements and hordes of small enemies that can slip through Link’s defense. There doesn’t seem to be any theme to the levels, unlike in the Savage Labyrinth where each the first four set’s foes appeared in collections based on the same dungeon. Each set of levels after the first requires using the items from the dungeons to access: Arbiter’s Grounds (spinner), Snowpeak Ruins (flail), Temple of Time (dominion rod), and City in the Sky (double clawhots).
The last level of the fourth set pits Link against a pair of Darknuts. Three of the final four groups of enemies are worse: a bunch of Chilfos (the enemy that gave me the worst trouble out of anything in the whole gauntlet) backed by a couple Freezards with the ghoul rats hanging around, a Darknut with a pair of Aeralfos, and finally three Darknuts. The good news is, I quickly got the hang of the second phase of the Darknut fight. (Dodge their attack and counterattack. Seems obvious in hindsight, really.)
The rewards for making it through the Cave of Ordeals: For the first four visits with the Great Fairy, fairies appear in a spirit’s spring. With the final one, Link gets a bottle of Great Fairy’s Tears, and they become available at the springs. (This is the source Jovani spoke of.) Link can only get them from the spring if he doesn’t already have a bottle of them, but I guess the game figures since I didn’t use them getting through the Cave of Ordeals, it’s not going to break the game for me to have two bottles of them (plus a rare ChuChu jelly) at once.
Oh, and speaking of Jovani: the final three Poe souls are in the Cave of Ordeals. Cured of his condition, he runs off to find his girlfriend, giving Link 200 rupees. Link can find him at Telma’s Bar, and things didn’t go so well – his girlfriend apparently prefers guys who haven’t been touched by Midas, and moved on in the meantime. (Shad, meanwhile, seems happy that his project got completed, not minding that he wasn’t there to see it through.) If Link returns to Jovani’s home, Jovani’s cat will give Link another 200 rupees.
With the missing shards of the Mirror of Twilight, Link and Midna head back to the Mirror Chamber. With the Mirror reassembled, Midna talks about how the Twilight Realm isn’t so bad, or wasn’t until Ganon showed up. The sages take the blame for that, and ask her forgiveness, calling her Twilight Princess. A couple flashbacks play, showing Zant turning Midna from her true form (only vaguely seen) to the familiar one she’s occupied the full game, Midna discovering her helmet (is this a piece of the Fused Shadow? I don’t remember if that got confirmed), and Midna watching as Link becomes the prophesied Divine Beast. She admits that at first she didn’t care about saving the Light World, but Link’s heroism and Zelda’s sacrifices have made her realize she has to save both. She’s sure once Zant is dealt with, she’ll be back to her true form and they can resurrect Zelda, and she and Link head into the Twilight Realm to confront him.
Next: Lighting up the twilight.
Monday, June 3, 2019
Twilight Princess: City in the Sky
Okay, I really liked this dungeon, but I’m going to start off with a list of little frustrations. First, one that’s not so little: the place is huge and confusing to navigate. With lots of multi-floor rooms, the map really isn’t that much help, and I managed to miss a treasure chest and now I’m wondering if it’s going to be worth it to go back and get it. (Yes, it is, because otherwise there’s a chest left in the dungeon. Why is this even a question?) The Oocca are everywhere in the dungeon, and they make sounds very reminiscent of the fscking Wind Waker Miniblin chittering. Maybe not as harsh as that, but still: Miniblin chittering. Finally, there’s a lot of waiting for things to Clawshot onto, which isn’t too bad, but makes an already long dungeon feel even longer.
Being a flying people, the Oocca didn’t exactly design their dungeon with the non-flighted in mind. There are gaps everywhere that Link needs to jump or Clawshot or Ooccaglide across, and floor tiles that aren’t capable of supporting Link’s weight so they fall if he steps on them. The only new enemy is an upgraded Helmasaur, the Helmasaurus, whose helmet can’t be taken off with the Clawshot so Link needs to stab it from behind and I’m glad I practiced with the regular Helmasaurs.
The Clawshot is Link’s constant companion in this dungeon, with lots of targets and vines and gratings and Peahats to latch onto. There are also several switches he needs to pull down using the iron boots to increase his weight. The miniboss is an Aeralfos, a flying Lizalfos. Its shield looks like a Clawshot target, so when it holds its shield forward as it prepares to divebomb Link, Link can catch the shield with his Clawshot and pull the Aeralfos to it, stunning it. After a while, the Aeralfos shakes up its tactics and flies out of the room, only reappearing at a random window, already preparing to charge. As usual, defeating the boss lets Link claim the treasure. With how important the Clawshot is, and what I know about the dragon from Hyrule Warriors, I was expecting a Clawshot upgrade, which… well, sort of.
It’s a second Clawshot, and while it’s not more powerful than the first or anything, both can be equipped at the same time. The main advantage of the Double Clawshots is Link can use one while he’s dangling by the other. This adds a very Spider-Man feel to the rest of the dungeon, particularly with sequences where the Clawshot targets Link’s hitting are on pillars that begin to fall under his weight so he has to keep zipping to the next target, or other sequences where he zips from Peahat to Peahat to cross a gap. As Link makes the final climb to the boss, he has to fight a pair of Aeralfos, which don’t get as creative as the single miniboss did but are harder to keep track of – sometimes one will divebomb Link while he focuses on the other.
After passing through the boss door, Link has to climb to the roof of the tower, where he’s joined by Argorok, the twilit dragon that’s been seen flying around and destroyed the bridge. In the first phase, Argorok has two attacks: it flies low to the tower in an attempt to push or blow Link off, and it hovers and flaps its wings to blow up a storm and knock Link off. The iron boots anchor Link, and if during the storm attack Link latches on to target tantalizingly dangling from Argorok’s tail while wearing them, Argorok will crash to the ground and his armor will break. The second phase is like the first, except Argorok will sometimes perch on the pillars around the rooftop, and Link will have to Clawshot his way up to be able to latch onto the tail. The fall this time breaks more armor, revealing a giant glowing gem on Argorok’s back. When Argorok gets up again, it shakes off what’s left of its armor and flies higher than before. A ring of Peahats rise above the pillars, so it’s obvious what Link needs to do: Clawshot up to the Peahats, get Argorok to breath fire at him, go around the ring until he can latch onto Argorok’s back [1], and stabbity stabbity stabbity. Eventually, Argorok catches wise to this strategy and tries turning around, which forces Link to switch directions around the circle to get its back.
Argorok dies with an impressive display of fire, and apparently Link got off its back at some point because when it explodes in midair, Link’s watching from the rooftop as the heart container and last mirror shard come down. With all the pieces of the Mirror, Midna’s delighted. As the sages said, only the true ruler of the Twilight Realm can completely destroy the Mirror, and Zant has reason to want the mirror gone, so the fact that he couldn’t proves his rule is illegitimate. And once they reassemble the Mirror, they can finally go to the Twilight Realm and fight him there and bring an end to his reign.
Next: The true ruler of the Twilight Realm.
[1] I had to switch over to hold target locking for this, because I couldn’t make it target Argorok instead of the Peahats otherwise.
Being a flying people, the Oocca didn’t exactly design their dungeon with the non-flighted in mind. There are gaps everywhere that Link needs to jump or Clawshot or Ooccaglide across, and floor tiles that aren’t capable of supporting Link’s weight so they fall if he steps on them. The only new enemy is an upgraded Helmasaur, the Helmasaurus, whose helmet can’t be taken off with the Clawshot so Link needs to stab it from behind and I’m glad I practiced with the regular Helmasaurs.
The Clawshot is Link’s constant companion in this dungeon, with lots of targets and vines and gratings and Peahats to latch onto. There are also several switches he needs to pull down using the iron boots to increase his weight. The miniboss is an Aeralfos, a flying Lizalfos. Its shield looks like a Clawshot target, so when it holds its shield forward as it prepares to divebomb Link, Link can catch the shield with his Clawshot and pull the Aeralfos to it, stunning it. After a while, the Aeralfos shakes up its tactics and flies out of the room, only reappearing at a random window, already preparing to charge. As usual, defeating the boss lets Link claim the treasure. With how important the Clawshot is, and what I know about the dragon from Hyrule Warriors, I was expecting a Clawshot upgrade, which… well, sort of.
It’s a second Clawshot, and while it’s not more powerful than the first or anything, both can be equipped at the same time. The main advantage of the Double Clawshots is Link can use one while he’s dangling by the other. This adds a very Spider-Man feel to the rest of the dungeon, particularly with sequences where the Clawshot targets Link’s hitting are on pillars that begin to fall under his weight so he has to keep zipping to the next target, or other sequences where he zips from Peahat to Peahat to cross a gap. As Link makes the final climb to the boss, he has to fight a pair of Aeralfos, which don’t get as creative as the single miniboss did but are harder to keep track of – sometimes one will divebomb Link while he focuses on the other.
After passing through the boss door, Link has to climb to the roof of the tower, where he’s joined by Argorok, the twilit dragon that’s been seen flying around and destroyed the bridge. In the first phase, Argorok has two attacks: it flies low to the tower in an attempt to push or blow Link off, and it hovers and flaps its wings to blow up a storm and knock Link off. The iron boots anchor Link, and if during the storm attack Link latches on to target tantalizingly dangling from Argorok’s tail while wearing them, Argorok will crash to the ground and his armor will break. The second phase is like the first, except Argorok will sometimes perch on the pillars around the rooftop, and Link will have to Clawshot his way up to be able to latch onto the tail. The fall this time breaks more armor, revealing a giant glowing gem on Argorok’s back. When Argorok gets up again, it shakes off what’s left of its armor and flies higher than before. A ring of Peahats rise above the pillars, so it’s obvious what Link needs to do: Clawshot up to the Peahats, get Argorok to breath fire at him, go around the ring until he can latch onto Argorok’s back [1], and stabbity stabbity stabbity. Eventually, Argorok catches wise to this strategy and tries turning around, which forces Link to switch directions around the circle to get its back.
Argorok dies with an impressive display of fire, and apparently Link got off its back at some point because when it explodes in midair, Link’s watching from the rooftop as the heart container and last mirror shard come down. With all the pieces of the Mirror, Midna’s delighted. As the sages said, only the true ruler of the Twilight Realm can completely destroy the Mirror, and Zant has reason to want the mirror gone, so the fact that he couldn’t proves his rule is illegitimate. And once they reassemble the Mirror, they can finally go to the Twilight Realm and fight him there and bring an end to his reign.
Next: The true ruler of the Twilight Realm.
[1] I had to switch over to hold target locking for this, because I couldn’t make it target Argorok instead of the Peahats otherwise.
Friday, May 24, 2019
Twilight Princess: Oocca
Now that the situation with Ilia and the Hidden Village is settled, Link can get back to working with Shad and figuring out how to get to the sky dungeon. Shad’s looking at a statue in the basement of Renado’s home; there are similar statues all over Hyrule, but this one has special writing on it. “Awaken us with the word that breaks the seal.” Link gives him the book Impaz gave him, and it has the same writing as the statue. Shad tries reading from the book, but nothing happens. He decides to try the incantation he used on the other statues throughout Hyrule, and marks the spots on Link’s map should he wish to try something. As he walks away, the Dominion Rod glows to life again, and Midna says they should check out the other statues and see if they can do something with the Rod.
There are six statues throughout Hyrule: Four in the central area, one in Faron Woods, and one off in the Gerudo Desert. Each can be brought to life, and once moved off their location, Link can examine the location where the statue was to read one of the letters for the missing word in the book. Furthermore, each statue can be dragged to a nearby location to give Link access to a chest; the puzzles are fairly simple, although the one in the Gerudo Desert has to be moved into position while Link’s standing on small platforms; falling off means restarting the whole puzzle. The rewards for this are a few hundred rupees and two heart pieces.
As Link heads into Hyrule Castle Town to meet the golden wolf one last time, the postman stops him with a letter from Shad. His efforts with the statues were less fruitful, so he’s going back to the one in the village to see if he can find any more ideas. Link finds the wolf right by the twilight barrier around the castle; the final skill is a more powerful spin attack that can only be used at full health. Once the skill is taught, the warrior says that he regretted that he couldn’t pass on his skills, but now those regrets are at ease, and he bids Link a final farewell with words of encouragement.
Link returns to the village and finds Shad again. With the completed word, Shad tries the incantation again, and this causes a piece of the statue to disappear so it resembles the other six. Shad doesn’t understand what this means and wanders off to ponder the question further. Once he’s gone, Link whips out the Dominion Rod and moves the statue out of its niche. This reveals a passage to a massive, ancient, broken-down cannon. Shad comes down and says if they get it to work, they could reach the Oocca city. Midna comes out to take a look at it, and Link asks her to warp it, but Shad’s still watching. Seeing Midna scares him off, and he leaves Link to his examination.
I feel bad for Shad. There was no real reason for Link to not show him the Dominion Rod and how it can manipulate the statues; he did most of the real work for Link only to get cut out of the final stages of discovery. Sure, the City in the Sky’s going to be dangerous and Shad, by his admission, isn’t up for that, but he should have gotten to choose when he was ready to hand the rest of the discovery over to Link. (Probably about the time the dragon flew over the sky city. But he could have hung out in the shop and talked to the Oocca while Link did his thing.)
Midna warps the cannon out to Lake Hylia, where it catches the attention of the guy giving cannon flights. He offers to repair the cannon for 300 rupees, which seems like a good deal – opening the way to the next dungeon and clearing wallet space for the inevitable treasures Link’s going to find there. Once it’s fixed, Link hops in, followed again by Ooccoo and Jr., finally returning home. Ooccoo offers to show Link around, but then starts at seeing a giant dragon flying overhead. She heads to a nearby shop, and Link follows. The shop’s got all kinds of toys for Link to use (that the shopkeeper notes are useless to the Oocca). As for Ooccoo, since Link’s going to be exploring the city, she wants to come along to help find her people. Her warping is going to be a little different in this dungeon – she’ll only bring Link to the shop, not back to the surface. Together, they head into the City in the Sky.
Next: Spider-Link! Spider-Link! Friendly neighborhood Spider-Link!
There are six statues throughout Hyrule: Four in the central area, one in Faron Woods, and one off in the Gerudo Desert. Each can be brought to life, and once moved off their location, Link can examine the location where the statue was to read one of the letters for the missing word in the book. Furthermore, each statue can be dragged to a nearby location to give Link access to a chest; the puzzles are fairly simple, although the one in the Gerudo Desert has to be moved into position while Link’s standing on small platforms; falling off means restarting the whole puzzle. The rewards for this are a few hundred rupees and two heart pieces.
As Link heads into Hyrule Castle Town to meet the golden wolf one last time, the postman stops him with a letter from Shad. His efforts with the statues were less fruitful, so he’s going back to the one in the village to see if he can find any more ideas. Link finds the wolf right by the twilight barrier around the castle; the final skill is a more powerful spin attack that can only be used at full health. Once the skill is taught, the warrior says that he regretted that he couldn’t pass on his skills, but now those regrets are at ease, and he bids Link a final farewell with words of encouragement.
Link returns to the village and finds Shad again. With the completed word, Shad tries the incantation again, and this causes a piece of the statue to disappear so it resembles the other six. Shad doesn’t understand what this means and wanders off to ponder the question further. Once he’s gone, Link whips out the Dominion Rod and moves the statue out of its niche. This reveals a passage to a massive, ancient, broken-down cannon. Shad comes down and says if they get it to work, they could reach the Oocca city. Midna comes out to take a look at it, and Link asks her to warp it, but Shad’s still watching. Seeing Midna scares him off, and he leaves Link to his examination.
I feel bad for Shad. There was no real reason for Link to not show him the Dominion Rod and how it can manipulate the statues; he did most of the real work for Link only to get cut out of the final stages of discovery. Sure, the City in the Sky’s going to be dangerous and Shad, by his admission, isn’t up for that, but he should have gotten to choose when he was ready to hand the rest of the discovery over to Link. (Probably about the time the dragon flew over the sky city. But he could have hung out in the shop and talked to the Oocca while Link did his thing.)
Midna warps the cannon out to Lake Hylia, where it catches the attention of the guy giving cannon flights. He offers to repair the cannon for 300 rupees, which seems like a good deal – opening the way to the next dungeon and clearing wallet space for the inevitable treasures Link’s going to find there. Once it’s fixed, Link hops in, followed again by Ooccoo and Jr., finally returning home. Ooccoo offers to show Link around, but then starts at seeing a giant dragon flying overhead. She heads to a nearby shop, and Link follows. The shop’s got all kinds of toys for Link to use (that the shopkeeper notes are useless to the Oocca). As for Ooccoo, since Link’s going to be exploring the city, she wants to come along to help find her people. Her warping is going to be a little different in this dungeon – she’ll only bring Link to the shop, not back to the surface. Together, they head into the City in the Sky.
Next: Spider-Link! Spider-Link! Friendly neighborhood Spider-Link!
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Twilight Princess: Hidden Village
Before stepping out of the old Temple of Time, Link can use the Dominion Rod to move statues out of the way to find a heart piece and a Poe. Then, back in the present, Ooccoo greets Link and says the Dominion Rod is what she was looking for… but in coming back from the past to the present, it’s lost its power, and she’s forgotten the spell that would empower it to return her and Junior to the sky. So they head off to look for other leads, while Link and Midna connect a few things and decide empowering the Rod is their best hope. Shad was interested in the Oocca, and he’s gone off to Kakariko Village to investigate something. Also, Renado sends a letter asking Link to come to the village to discuss Ilia, so that’s the next destination.
It turns out the two events are connected: when Shad asked Renado to let him see a statue in the basement, Ilia mentioned that she heard something about a rod of the heavens, which gives them an idea for how to follow Ilia’s footsteps and find something to jog her memory. Renado writes a letter to Telma with his ideas. Telma says that the town doctor took Ilia in first, and gives Link the doctor’s bar tab to let Link make him talk. Presented with the tab, the doctor says he was going to sell a statue Ilia had to raise the money to pay for it, but it spilled medicine on it, and while it was drying, someone stole it. The medicine is smelly, so Link has to wolf out, smell the medicine, and follow the scent to the thief – Louise, Telma’s cat. But she got attacked by Stalhounds and lost it. The group that stole it spawns just outside the city’s south gate at night. Link takes them out (they come at him in a semicircle, so it’s nice and easy to line up Midna’s dark field attack) and gets the statue back.
Ilia remembers the statue; she was stuck somewhere with someone else, and the other person gave her the statue when they helped get her out. Ilia doesn’t remember where it was, but the Goron elder who’s come down from the mountain to help recognizes the statue as belonging to the Shiekah. He says the Sheikah had a hidden village in the mountain, and the road has been blocked by a rockslide… but Darbus won’t have any trouble clearing the way. When Link finds Darbus, the way to the village is mostly clear. Darbus says there’s twenty Bulblins in the village that will need to be cleared, leading to a sequence where Link stalks the town taking them out, with music that wouldn’t be out of place for a Western’s showdown. After the Bulblins are all cleared out, the village’s lone inhabitant, Impaz, emerges from her home. She knows who Link is, because Ilia said he would come to save them. She says she’s waiting for someone and can’t leave until they come, but gives Link a charm Ilia left with her and ask Link to return it.
The charm jogs Ilia’s memory, and she remembers Ordon Village and Link. After a quick flashback to the two of them and Epona standing in Ordon’s spring, Renado and the Goron elder leave the two alone to talk. (The other kids, who had been watching from the window also leave – Talo needs a bit of encouragement – and Midna stays hidden in Link’s shadow without a snarky comment.) It turns out the “charm” was a gift she’d meant to give Link for his trip to Hyrule Castle: it will call Epona from anywhere, without a need for the horse grass. (In hindsight, it looks like the horse grass, or perhaps a horseshoe.)
Ilia also remembers why the rod of the heavens sparked her memory: the messenger Impaz is waiting for is supposed to have it, and Impaz is supposed to give something to that messenger. So Link heads back to the village and shows the Dominion Rod to her. She gives Link a book written in the ancient Oocca language, although apparently a few letters are missing from a crucial word. Before Link leaves the village to resume his quest, there are a few things to do. First, the last Howling Stone is in this village, which causes the golden wolf to appear in Hyrule Castle Town. Second, there’s a Poe near the town entrance. And finally, a bunch of cats have moved into the village since Link drove the Bulblins out. A Cucco suggests (wolf) Link talk to all of them to entertain them. Being cats, they’re tricky to find and it’s not always easy to tell when Link’s talked to one – plus there are some in Impaz’ house, but they don’t count because going inside resets the game. The minigame is cute, but annoying. You know, like cats. And, amusingly, it has the same music as the Bulblin fight. The reward for completion is a heart piece.
Next: Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky.
It turns out the two events are connected: when Shad asked Renado to let him see a statue in the basement, Ilia mentioned that she heard something about a rod of the heavens, which gives them an idea for how to follow Ilia’s footsteps and find something to jog her memory. Renado writes a letter to Telma with his ideas. Telma says that the town doctor took Ilia in first, and gives Link the doctor’s bar tab to let Link make him talk. Presented with the tab, the doctor says he was going to sell a statue Ilia had to raise the money to pay for it, but it spilled medicine on it, and while it was drying, someone stole it. The medicine is smelly, so Link has to wolf out, smell the medicine, and follow the scent to the thief – Louise, Telma’s cat. But she got attacked by Stalhounds and lost it. The group that stole it spawns just outside the city’s south gate at night. Link takes them out (they come at him in a semicircle, so it’s nice and easy to line up Midna’s dark field attack) and gets the statue back.
Ilia remembers the statue; she was stuck somewhere with someone else, and the other person gave her the statue when they helped get her out. Ilia doesn’t remember where it was, but the Goron elder who’s come down from the mountain to help recognizes the statue as belonging to the Shiekah. He says the Sheikah had a hidden village in the mountain, and the road has been blocked by a rockslide… but Darbus won’t have any trouble clearing the way. When Link finds Darbus, the way to the village is mostly clear. Darbus says there’s twenty Bulblins in the village that will need to be cleared, leading to a sequence where Link stalks the town taking them out, with music that wouldn’t be out of place for a Western’s showdown. After the Bulblins are all cleared out, the village’s lone inhabitant, Impaz, emerges from her home. She knows who Link is, because Ilia said he would come to save them. She says she’s waiting for someone and can’t leave until they come, but gives Link a charm Ilia left with her and ask Link to return it.
The charm jogs Ilia’s memory, and she remembers Ordon Village and Link. After a quick flashback to the two of them and Epona standing in Ordon’s spring, Renado and the Goron elder leave the two alone to talk. (The other kids, who had been watching from the window also leave – Talo needs a bit of encouragement – and Midna stays hidden in Link’s shadow without a snarky comment.) It turns out the “charm” was a gift she’d meant to give Link for his trip to Hyrule Castle: it will call Epona from anywhere, without a need for the horse grass. (In hindsight, it looks like the horse grass, or perhaps a horseshoe.)
Ilia also remembers why the rod of the heavens sparked her memory: the messenger Impaz is waiting for is supposed to have it, and Impaz is supposed to give something to that messenger. So Link heads back to the village and shows the Dominion Rod to her. She gives Link a book written in the ancient Oocca language, although apparently a few letters are missing from a crucial word. Before Link leaves the village to resume his quest, there are a few things to do. First, the last Howling Stone is in this village, which causes the golden wolf to appear in Hyrule Castle Town. Second, there’s a Poe near the town entrance. And finally, a bunch of cats have moved into the village since Link drove the Bulblins out. A Cucco suggests (wolf) Link talk to all of them to entertain them. Being cats, they’re tricky to find and it’s not always easy to tell when Link’s talked to one – plus there are some in Impaz’ house, but they don’t count because going inside resets the game. The minigame is cute, but annoying. You know, like cats. And, amusingly, it has the same music as the Bulblin fight. The reward for completion is a heart piece.
Next: Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky.
Monday, May 20, 2019
Twilight Princess: Temple of Time
The Temple of Time borrows its central puzzle from Wind Waker’s Tower of the Gods: Link needs to lead a statue into a room to open up the way to the boss. In fact, that’s all there is to the dungeon: the statue’s missing from the starting room (which Midna suspects and has Link confirm via wolf), and when Link gets it in place, all that’s left is to run through a hallway of traps and fight the boss. Well, okay, the entrance room is at the bottom of the tower, and the statue’s at the top, so maybe it’s not quite that simple. Other touches also come from the Tower of the Gods: there’s a balancing scales puzzle and Armos and Beamos make up a good chunk of the obstacles. (Thankfully, no water.) As Link starts to head up the tower, Ooccoo explains that she’s been looking for something belonging to her people, and she knows it’s here, in this dungeon.
The enemies in the dungeon give Link a lot of chances to use the sword skills he’s learned. The Mortal Draw is useful against the many Lizalfos. Dinolfos are too heavily armored for it to work against them, but they’re vulnerable to the Shield Bash/Helm Splitter combo. As with the ones from Wind Waker, Armos’ vulnerable point is a gem on their back, which Link can hit with the Back Slice. The Jump Strike is useful against the groups of Baby/Young Gohmas. So, of course, the miniboss is the ultimate sword foe: a Darknut. This fight takes two phases: first, it fights with a giant sword while Link hacks its armor off. This phase was pretty easy: Mortal Draw to hack at its armor, run away and sheathe the Master Sword, repeat until Link destroys its shield. The Darknut then chucks its sword at Link and pulls out a smaller sword for phase two. This one’s faster, and I whittled it down with Back Slices, but I can’t help but think there was an easier way to do that. I wish I could have repeated the fight, because I imagine they’re not putting just one Darknut in the game.
The statue Link needs to bring down the tower has a twin, and with knowledge from Hyrule Warriors [1], I guessed what the dungeon’s item would be: the Dominion Rod, which lets Link control statues. They move with him, and for the big one, Link can swing the rod to swing the statue’s hammer, which can smash enemies, or walls, or traps. This makes the journey down the tower both easier and more complicated. There’s not a lot of collecting going on on the way up, but Link can nab a couple of Poe souls and heart pieces as he works his way down.
As foreshadowed by the presence of Gohma youths throughout the dungeon, the final boss is a twilit arachnid, Armogohma. Previous Gohma bosses have looked like crabs or scorpions, but this one is a giant spider. As is customary with Gohmas, the strategy is to wait for it to open its eye (to shoot a laser, in this case) and shoot it with an arrow. This causes Armogohma to fall from the ceiling and lay dazed. There are statues around the arena, so Link can possess one with the Dominion Rod and have it smash Armogohma with its fist. When Armogohma leaps back to the ceiling, it lays a bunch of eggs which instantly hatch into Baby Gohmas, and killing them all is really the hardest part of the fight. After the statues smash Armogohma three times, the victory fanfare plays… but Armogohma’s not done. The eyeball is still alive, on the back of a spider surrounded by Baby Gohmas. The music turns humorous as what’s left of Armogohma skitters around the room. One more statue smash will take care of that, and the third mirror fragment is claimed.
Midna suggests, considering that the mirror’s creations, Blizzeta and Armogohma, have been abominations, maybe it would be best to destroy the mirror. (She didn’t have such thoughts about the Fused Shadow, even though what it did to Darbus is not any different from what the mirror did to Yeta. Of course, that was back before nearly dying changed her attitude toward the world of light and its people.) But without it, they can’t save the Twilight Realm from Zant, so, that discussion will have to wait for after he’s dealt with, and for now they should go ahead and get the last fragment.
Next: What fun, meow!
[1] Zelda has the Dominion Rod as one of her weapons, and one of the statues she controls is identical to the pair Link has to reunite.
The enemies in the dungeon give Link a lot of chances to use the sword skills he’s learned. The Mortal Draw is useful against the many Lizalfos. Dinolfos are too heavily armored for it to work against them, but they’re vulnerable to the Shield Bash/Helm Splitter combo. As with the ones from Wind Waker, Armos’ vulnerable point is a gem on their back, which Link can hit with the Back Slice. The Jump Strike is useful against the groups of Baby/Young Gohmas. So, of course, the miniboss is the ultimate sword foe: a Darknut. This fight takes two phases: first, it fights with a giant sword while Link hacks its armor off. This phase was pretty easy: Mortal Draw to hack at its armor, run away and sheathe the Master Sword, repeat until Link destroys its shield. The Darknut then chucks its sword at Link and pulls out a smaller sword for phase two. This one’s faster, and I whittled it down with Back Slices, but I can’t help but think there was an easier way to do that. I wish I could have repeated the fight, because I imagine they’re not putting just one Darknut in the game.
The statue Link needs to bring down the tower has a twin, and with knowledge from Hyrule Warriors [1], I guessed what the dungeon’s item would be: the Dominion Rod, which lets Link control statues. They move with him, and for the big one, Link can swing the rod to swing the statue’s hammer, which can smash enemies, or walls, or traps. This makes the journey down the tower both easier and more complicated. There’s not a lot of collecting going on on the way up, but Link can nab a couple of Poe souls and heart pieces as he works his way down.
As foreshadowed by the presence of Gohma youths throughout the dungeon, the final boss is a twilit arachnid, Armogohma. Previous Gohma bosses have looked like crabs or scorpions, but this one is a giant spider. As is customary with Gohmas, the strategy is to wait for it to open its eye (to shoot a laser, in this case) and shoot it with an arrow. This causes Armogohma to fall from the ceiling and lay dazed. There are statues around the arena, so Link can possess one with the Dominion Rod and have it smash Armogohma with its fist. When Armogohma leaps back to the ceiling, it lays a bunch of eggs which instantly hatch into Baby Gohmas, and killing them all is really the hardest part of the fight. After the statues smash Armogohma three times, the victory fanfare plays… but Armogohma’s not done. The eyeball is still alive, on the back of a spider surrounded by Baby Gohmas. The music turns humorous as what’s left of Armogohma skitters around the room. One more statue smash will take care of that, and the third mirror fragment is claimed.
Midna suggests, considering that the mirror’s creations, Blizzeta and Armogohma, have been abominations, maybe it would be best to destroy the mirror. (She didn’t have such thoughts about the Fused Shadow, even though what it did to Darbus is not any different from what the mirror did to Yeta. Of course, that was back before nearly dying changed her attitude toward the world of light and its people.) But without it, they can’t save the Twilight Realm from Zant, so, that discussion will have to wait for after he’s dealt with, and for now they should go ahead and get the last fragment.
Next: What fun, meow!
[1] Zelda has the Dominion Rod as one of her weapons, and one of the statues she controls is identical to the pair Link has to reunite.
Friday, May 17, 2019
Twilight Princess: A Link to the Past
[1]
As Link returns to civilization from his trip into the mountains, the postman stops him with a letter from Yeta. She’s feeling better and has taken to sledding down the mountain path with Yeto. I should have known that snowboard course wasn’t just a fun way to get to the dungeon. No, there’s a minigame to race down the mountain. The many frustrations I experienced in doing this race over and over and over: Yeto can just start the race, Link has to kick a few times before he reaches racing speed, by which time, he’s several yards behind. As seen multiple times by now, Yeto is big and strong and doesn’t quite realize he’s either. If Link gets too close, he’ll be knocked over. And there are narrow spots where there’s no room for Link and Yeto to race side by side. Near the end of the race the track curves extremely sharply, and even on my winning runs I wasn’t able to make the turn without bumping into the wall. I wouldn’t swear there’s a rubber band AI effect here… but that’s the impression I got.
Beating Yeto’s not so bad, really. There’s a shortcut near the end that he doesn’t use that lets Link shave a lot of time off his run and win comfortably. But then, to get the real reward, he needs to go against Yeta. Yeta’s not as big; Link can knock her off-track if he whacks her with his sword. (Yes, it’s mean. But so is whoever designed this sadistic race.) But she can make it onto the shortcut, so… yeah, all those times I bounced around in the end meant she had plenty of opportunity to zip past and steal a win. And her giggles and squeals as she made it down the mountain got old. The reward for beating this game is the inevitable heart piece, and now it’s filed with mail sorting and Cucco wrangling.
Look, I’m not saying I’d rather be playing SkiFree and have Link get eaten if he fails to outrun them with another Abominable Snow Monster waiting ten seconds down the mountain. But it really couldn’t be that much more aggravating. Also on Snowpeak, there’s a Poe Soul going down the mountain toward Zora’s Domain. In the mountains north of the castle but south of Zora’s Domain, there’s a cave with three sliding ice block puzzles; the reward for beating it is another heart piece.
It’s Rusl’s turn to lead Link to the next dungeon, and this one is back in the Sacred Grove. Since Rusl needs to lead Link there and Midna won’t let Link turn into the wolf in front of him, Rusl presents another option for crossing the gaps leading from Faron Woods to the Sacred Grove: Cuccogliding. Once again, the Skull Kid is there to welcome Link to the woods and guide him through the woods to the grove. I don’t know if it was there last time or not, but this time, the Skull Kid’s lantern casts a golden glow to mark the right way forward, which spares a lot of pointless searching and chasing. Also, since Link’s human this time and can use ranged weapons, some of his hiding spots are out of reach of Link’s sword. On the other hand, the bow makes the actual fight phase of the Skull Kid’s game a breeze, provided Link can line up the shot before being swarmed by the marionettes. There’s also a Poe Link can catch while chasing the Skull Kid: fifty down, ten to go.
As the Skull Kid leaves, he opens the path to the Sacred Grove, only it’s a different one that lets him up higher that he could reach the previous time. The way to the dungeon is to return to the Master Sword’s pedestal and put the Master Sword back for a second; this causes a statue to disappear. (There’s also a Poe hanging out here.) As Link runs back to investigate, he’s attacked by five cursed Twili, opening a portal right over the Triforce mark on the ground. The doors that the disappeared statue blocked can now be opened, revealing a portal to the past when a structure used to stand in the area: the Temple of Time. Where the Master Sword once lived. The antechamber even has the same music as the temple did in Ocarina, and also the female snail, completing Link’s insect collection.
At this point, I weighed my options and decided to go ahead and deliver the insects to Agitha’s ball. Agitha tells Link his deeds will be forever remembered in the insect kingdom, and gives him the Giant Wallet, upgrading his rupee capacity to 1000. At this point, I’m pretty sure there’s not going to be a Tinglesque extortion scam needed to complete the game, because if there were Link’s wallet would probably have been bigger enough to handle it. So I think I made the right choice. The postman also has a letter from Agitha, and… well, I could have told that without being told who it was from.
Link returns to the Temple of Time and plunges the Master Sword into the past pedestal. This creates a staircase of light and opens the way into the actual dungeon. Before Link can head in, Ooccoo and Jr. come running up behind him, up the stairs, and into the temple.
Next: How did the statue get way up there anyway?
[1] I try not to repeat references too many times, but the A Link to the Past title is too good to not riff on, and hey, it’s within this series.
As Link returns to civilization from his trip into the mountains, the postman stops him with a letter from Yeta. She’s feeling better and has taken to sledding down the mountain path with Yeto. I should have known that snowboard course wasn’t just a fun way to get to the dungeon. No, there’s a minigame to race down the mountain. The many frustrations I experienced in doing this race over and over and over: Yeto can just start the race, Link has to kick a few times before he reaches racing speed, by which time, he’s several yards behind. As seen multiple times by now, Yeto is big and strong and doesn’t quite realize he’s either. If Link gets too close, he’ll be knocked over. And there are narrow spots where there’s no room for Link and Yeto to race side by side. Near the end of the race the track curves extremely sharply, and even on my winning runs I wasn’t able to make the turn without bumping into the wall. I wouldn’t swear there’s a rubber band AI effect here… but that’s the impression I got.
Beating Yeto’s not so bad, really. There’s a shortcut near the end that he doesn’t use that lets Link shave a lot of time off his run and win comfortably. But then, to get the real reward, he needs to go against Yeta. Yeta’s not as big; Link can knock her off-track if he whacks her with his sword. (Yes, it’s mean. But so is whoever designed this sadistic race.) But she can make it onto the shortcut, so… yeah, all those times I bounced around in the end meant she had plenty of opportunity to zip past and steal a win. And her giggles and squeals as she made it down the mountain got old. The reward for beating this game is the inevitable heart piece, and now it’s filed with mail sorting and Cucco wrangling.
Look, I’m not saying I’d rather be playing SkiFree and have Link get eaten if he fails to outrun them with another Abominable Snow Monster waiting ten seconds down the mountain. But it really couldn’t be that much more aggravating. Also on Snowpeak, there’s a Poe Soul going down the mountain toward Zora’s Domain. In the mountains north of the castle but south of Zora’s Domain, there’s a cave with three sliding ice block puzzles; the reward for beating it is another heart piece.
It’s Rusl’s turn to lead Link to the next dungeon, and this one is back in the Sacred Grove. Since Rusl needs to lead Link there and Midna won’t let Link turn into the wolf in front of him, Rusl presents another option for crossing the gaps leading from Faron Woods to the Sacred Grove: Cuccogliding. Once again, the Skull Kid is there to welcome Link to the woods and guide him through the woods to the grove. I don’t know if it was there last time or not, but this time, the Skull Kid’s lantern casts a golden glow to mark the right way forward, which spares a lot of pointless searching and chasing. Also, since Link’s human this time and can use ranged weapons, some of his hiding spots are out of reach of Link’s sword. On the other hand, the bow makes the actual fight phase of the Skull Kid’s game a breeze, provided Link can line up the shot before being swarmed by the marionettes. There’s also a Poe Link can catch while chasing the Skull Kid: fifty down, ten to go.
As the Skull Kid leaves, he opens the path to the Sacred Grove, only it’s a different one that lets him up higher that he could reach the previous time. The way to the dungeon is to return to the Master Sword’s pedestal and put the Master Sword back for a second; this causes a statue to disappear. (There’s also a Poe hanging out here.) As Link runs back to investigate, he’s attacked by five cursed Twili, opening a portal right over the Triforce mark on the ground. The doors that the disappeared statue blocked can now be opened, revealing a portal to the past when a structure used to stand in the area: the Temple of Time. Where the Master Sword once lived. The antechamber even has the same music as the temple did in Ocarina, and also the female snail, completing Link’s insect collection.
At this point, I weighed my options and decided to go ahead and deliver the insects to Agitha’s ball. Agitha tells Link his deeds will be forever remembered in the insect kingdom, and gives him the Giant Wallet, upgrading his rupee capacity to 1000. At this point, I’m pretty sure there’s not going to be a Tinglesque extortion scam needed to complete the game, because if there were Link’s wallet would probably have been bigger enough to handle it. So I think I made the right choice. The postman also has a letter from Agitha, and… well, I could have told that without being told who it was from.
Link returns to the Temple of Time and plunges the Master Sword into the past pedestal. This creates a staircase of light and opens the way into the actual dungeon. Before Link can head in, Ooccoo and Jr. come running up behind him, up the stairs, and into the temple.
Next: How did the statue get way up there anyway?
[1] I try not to repeat references too many times, but the A Link to the Past title is too good to not riff on, and hey, it’s within this series.
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Twilight Princess: Snowpeak Ruins
Yeto and his wife Yeta live in a giant crumbling mansion. Link finds Yeta sitting in front of a fire; while Yeto looks like a – well, a yeti – Yeta looks like a large human in an oversized sweater. (She’s bigger than Link, but Yeto dwarfs them both.) She says that ever since Yeto gave her the mirror, things have taken a turn for the worst – she’s gotten sick, and monsters have moved into the mansion. The mirror’s locked in the bedroom to keep it isolated, but Yeta tells Link where she hid the key. Well, she tries to. The first two times, Link finds ingredients for the soup Yeto’s making for her (to Midna’s frustration). Yeto lets Link help himself to the soup, which serves as a healing potion – first a rather worthless one, but once all the ingredients are added it’s up to equivalent of red potion. To compensate for having a free, unlimited source of potions, there are no other healing items in the dungeon until the final boss fight when Link can’t just run back to Yeto for more soup. Well, and there are two heart pieces, which refill Link’s life. And on the subject of collectibles, there are three Poes (the normal kind, not the scary kind).
The mansion’s state of disrepair has allowed the elements to seep in (plus there’s a snow-filled courtyard), so this is very much an ice dungeon, just one with a different feel to it from most of the other ice-themed dungeons. There are slippery floors and sliding block puzzles. Link has to turn into the wolf and dig in the snow to find a couple keys. The new enemies include two varieties of Freezard, one huge and blowing ice, one small that bounces around the ice when Link hits them with sword, and Chilfos, animated ice men. Link’s arsenal isn’t terribly effective against these guys, but that gets better after the miniboss. The miniboss is a giant armored Lizalfos that advances on Link swinging a giant flail in a circle around it. It would be hard for Link to run past it without getting hit by the flail, but there are a bunch of hookshot points on the ceiling Link can use to zip past. Darkhammer then tries to hit Link with the flail, and as he’s reeling it back in, Link can sneak behind him and hit his exposed tail [1]. After Darkhammer is defeated, Link claims the flail [2] as the dungeon’s treasure, and the fun really begins.
Link has never been delicate. Barnes’ storage shed is an extreme example, but… well, let’s just say if pots could talk, they would paint a very different picture of the legendary heroes of Hyrule. And now someone’s gone and given him a wrecking ball. All those icy foes get smashed to bits, and blocks of ice likewise, but Link doesn’t stop there. He uses the flail to whack the chandeliers of the mansion so they can be used as platforms for his jumping, and smashes some suits of armor to get rupees and other goodies. You’re a guest in these nice people’s home! Didn’t your parents… well, okay you don’t seem to have parents… didn’t Rusl and Uli teach you manners? Don’t go smashing their stuff! (Without permission.) There are also several cannons throughout the mansion Link used to spread destruction before he got the flail, and continues to do so afterward to reach where the flail can’t.
After one of Yeta’s tips pays off and Link finally finds the bedroom key, Yeta meets him and leads him to the bedroom. As she looks in the mirror fragment, she starts admiring her reflection, becoming increasingly Gollum-like until she decides she wants to keep the mirrror. At that moment, snow begins pouring into the room, transforming Yeta into a twilit ice mass, Blizzeta. Link needs to whomp her with the flail, each hit destroying a layer of ice; it feels kind of like smashing a matryoshka. After the first ice shell is destroyed, Blizzeta summons an ice gazebo to ride around in, and a bunch of icicles that she tries to drop on Link, first one at a time, then in a circle that she lands in to attack. The strategy here is to smash enough of the icicles to get a hole in the circle, turn around, and hit Blizzeta; repeat three times and the ice gazebo is destroyed and Yeta’s left crumpled on the floor.
As Link and Midna claim the mirror fragment, Midna regrets what it – and they – did to Yeta. Yeto comes in to see how things are going, and when he sees Yeta, he runs to her, knocking Link out of the way in the process. Yeta’s alright, but sad about losing the mirror – but Yeto convinces her it’s fine and she doesn’t need it. As they embrace, a crapton of recovery hearts pour out of them, followed by the dungeon’s heart container. This could have been such a cheesy scene, and the hearts do add a comic touch (just like with Link’s fangirls from the STAR game), but it’s effective, too. And so, with everything working out fine, Link and Midna head off to find the next mirror shard.
Next: Yetis in skiing games: bad news.
[1] Back in Ocarina of Time, there was a gossip stone that said using hold targeting was the intended option rather than locking. (Up until I read that, I didn’t even know there was an option.) I’ve stuck with locking because screw that, but this is one battle where holding might have made it easier.
[2] The game uses the term “ball and chain” – and the series has ever since A Link to the Past, really – but I prefer flail.
The mansion’s state of disrepair has allowed the elements to seep in (plus there’s a snow-filled courtyard), so this is very much an ice dungeon, just one with a different feel to it from most of the other ice-themed dungeons. There are slippery floors and sliding block puzzles. Link has to turn into the wolf and dig in the snow to find a couple keys. The new enemies include two varieties of Freezard, one huge and blowing ice, one small that bounces around the ice when Link hits them with sword, and Chilfos, animated ice men. Link’s arsenal isn’t terribly effective against these guys, but that gets better after the miniboss. The miniboss is a giant armored Lizalfos that advances on Link swinging a giant flail in a circle around it. It would be hard for Link to run past it without getting hit by the flail, but there are a bunch of hookshot points on the ceiling Link can use to zip past. Darkhammer then tries to hit Link with the flail, and as he’s reeling it back in, Link can sneak behind him and hit his exposed tail [1]. After Darkhammer is defeated, Link claims the flail [2] as the dungeon’s treasure, and the fun really begins.
Link has never been delicate. Barnes’ storage shed is an extreme example, but… well, let’s just say if pots could talk, they would paint a very different picture of the legendary heroes of Hyrule. And now someone’s gone and given him a wrecking ball. All those icy foes get smashed to bits, and blocks of ice likewise, but Link doesn’t stop there. He uses the flail to whack the chandeliers of the mansion so they can be used as platforms for his jumping, and smashes some suits of armor to get rupees and other goodies. You’re a guest in these nice people’s home! Didn’t your parents… well, okay you don’t seem to have parents… didn’t Rusl and Uli teach you manners? Don’t go smashing their stuff! (Without permission.) There are also several cannons throughout the mansion Link used to spread destruction before he got the flail, and continues to do so afterward to reach where the flail can’t.
After one of Yeta’s tips pays off and Link finally finds the bedroom key, Yeta meets him and leads him to the bedroom. As she looks in the mirror fragment, she starts admiring her reflection, becoming increasingly Gollum-like until she decides she wants to keep the mirrror. At that moment, snow begins pouring into the room, transforming Yeta into a twilit ice mass, Blizzeta. Link needs to whomp her with the flail, each hit destroying a layer of ice; it feels kind of like smashing a matryoshka. After the first ice shell is destroyed, Blizzeta summons an ice gazebo to ride around in, and a bunch of icicles that she tries to drop on Link, first one at a time, then in a circle that she lands in to attack. The strategy here is to smash enough of the icicles to get a hole in the circle, turn around, and hit Blizzeta; repeat three times and the ice gazebo is destroyed and Yeta’s left crumpled on the floor.
As Link and Midna claim the mirror fragment, Midna regrets what it – and they – did to Yeta. Yeto comes in to see how things are going, and when he sees Yeta, he runs to her, knocking Link out of the way in the process. Yeta’s alright, but sad about losing the mirror – but Yeto convinces her it’s fine and she doesn’t need it. As they embrace, a crapton of recovery hearts pour out of them, followed by the dungeon’s heart container. This could have been such a cheesy scene, and the hearts do add a comic touch (just like with Link’s fangirls from the STAR game), but it’s effective, too. And so, with everything working out fine, Link and Midna head off to find the next mirror shard.
Next: Yetis in skiing games: bad news.
[1] Back in Ocarina of Time, there was a gossip stone that said using hold targeting was the intended option rather than locking. (Up until I read that, I didn’t even know there was an option.) I’ve stuck with locking because screw that, but this is one battle where holding might have made it easier.
[2] The game uses the term “ball and chain” – and the series has ever since A Link to the Past, really – but I prefer flail.
Monday, May 13, 2019
Twilight Princess: Snowpeak
The latest setback seems to have broken Midna’s spirit. The spirits of the sages come to Link with an explanation. Once upon a time, there was a man named Ganon(dorf). He tried to conquer Hyrule, but was stopped by Link’s knowledge of the future. However, Link was still bound to the Triforce of Courage, so Ganon gained his later self’s bond to the Triforce of Power, which made executing him impossible – he took a sword to the chest and pulled it out and killed one of his would-be executioners. So, the sages had to settle for banishing him to the Twilight Realm, which got him out of Hyrule. But, of course, Ganon would eventually find Zant and empower him to cause problems. Midna asks what the point of this exposition is – the mirror’s broken, it’s too late. But the sages explain that only the true ruler of the Twilight Realm can destroy the mirror; Zant, a usurper, was only able to fragment it, and the missing pieces are in the next three dungeons: Snowpeak, back in the forest, and up in the skies.
Given that both Link and Zelda’s Triforce crests have been focused on, Ganon’s involvement isn’t a big surprise. (I do question the Wii U’s cover artist’s decision to feature him more prominently than Zant…) There are some lingering questions about Midna, and I’m not sure which is more likely if I didn’t know the answer: that I would guess at this point, or not even realize those questions exist.
There’s not much to do before starting the ascent to the next dungeon. With the Spinner, Link can get a couple heart pieces, and then it’s time to figure out how to get up the mountain to the next dungeon. Auru has returned to Telma’s Bar, so Ashei has left to continue her investigation into what’s been happening on Snowpeak. The Zoras have noted that the way up has become dangerous, and Ashei’s confirmed that, yep, it’s bad. There’s been a monster coming down from the mountain, and Ashei has a picture of it with a red fish. The Zoras identify it as a Reekfish, but it’s hard to catch – only Prince Ralis has ever had any luck.
Ralis has been spending most of his time at his parents’ grave, but Link bringing the Reekfish drawing to him seems to awaken something inside him. He tells Link that the Reekfish are only drawn to a specific type of coral, and gives him a fishhook-shaped earring made of the coral. Armed with the earring, Link heads back up to Zora’s Domain to try his hand at fishing, and now I’m wishing I’d spent more time with that minigame because every time I have to go back and remind myself how to do it. After a bunch of false starts, I figured it out and caught a Reekfish, and the description noted a specific smell – a hint to turn into Wolf Link to learn the scent so he can follow the fish the monster caught.
The snows on Snowpeak are so thick the Poes think its constantly night. With the monster’s Reekfish scent trail as a guide, Wolf Link can make it through, catching a couple Poes along the way. (Human Link sinks into the snow and can barely move, so it’s best to just stay a wolf while making the climb.) Near the top of the mountain, there’s a Howling Stone (and again, I don’t recognize the tune) that causes the golden wolf to appear back in the graveyard. Shortly afterward, Link has to fight some cursed Twili to open a portal, so he can go back to Kakariko, learn the skill, and come right back. This skill is the jump strike, a jumping attack that strikes multiple foes. It feels like it would be most useful against the Twili, but I’m guessing there aren’t many more portals to open at this point.
Back atop Snowpeak, Link finds a yeti named Yeto. Yeto found the piece of the mirror Link needs, and invites him to his home to get it. Yeto knocks a frozen leaf off a nearby tree and snowboards down the mountain, and Link does the same to follow. At the end of the path, there’s a mansion that will serve as the next dungeon, but first, there’s one last Poe in the area to defeat and claim the soul of.
Next: Link’s already a human wrecking ball, but this time the developers decided that wasn’t enough.
Given that both Link and Zelda’s Triforce crests have been focused on, Ganon’s involvement isn’t a big surprise. (I do question the Wii U’s cover artist’s decision to feature him more prominently than Zant…) There are some lingering questions about Midna, and I’m not sure which is more likely if I didn’t know the answer: that I would guess at this point, or not even realize those questions exist.
There’s not much to do before starting the ascent to the next dungeon. With the Spinner, Link can get a couple heart pieces, and then it’s time to figure out how to get up the mountain to the next dungeon. Auru has returned to Telma’s Bar, so Ashei has left to continue her investigation into what’s been happening on Snowpeak. The Zoras have noted that the way up has become dangerous, and Ashei’s confirmed that, yep, it’s bad. There’s been a monster coming down from the mountain, and Ashei has a picture of it with a red fish. The Zoras identify it as a Reekfish, but it’s hard to catch – only Prince Ralis has ever had any luck.
Ralis has been spending most of his time at his parents’ grave, but Link bringing the Reekfish drawing to him seems to awaken something inside him. He tells Link that the Reekfish are only drawn to a specific type of coral, and gives him a fishhook-shaped earring made of the coral. Armed with the earring, Link heads back up to Zora’s Domain to try his hand at fishing, and now I’m wishing I’d spent more time with that minigame because every time I have to go back and remind myself how to do it. After a bunch of false starts, I figured it out and caught a Reekfish, and the description noted a specific smell – a hint to turn into Wolf Link to learn the scent so he can follow the fish the monster caught.
The snows on Snowpeak are so thick the Poes think its constantly night. With the monster’s Reekfish scent trail as a guide, Wolf Link can make it through, catching a couple Poes along the way. (Human Link sinks into the snow and can barely move, so it’s best to just stay a wolf while making the climb.) Near the top of the mountain, there’s a Howling Stone (and again, I don’t recognize the tune) that causes the golden wolf to appear back in the graveyard. Shortly afterward, Link has to fight some cursed Twili to open a portal, so he can go back to Kakariko, learn the skill, and come right back. This skill is the jump strike, a jumping attack that strikes multiple foes. It feels like it would be most useful against the Twili, but I’m guessing there aren’t many more portals to open at this point.
Back atop Snowpeak, Link finds a yeti named Yeto. Yeto found the piece of the mirror Link needs, and invites him to his home to get it. Yeto knocks a frozen leaf off a nearby tree and snowboards down the mountain, and Link does the same to follow. At the end of the path, there’s a mansion that will serve as the next dungeon, but first, there’s one last Poe in the area to defeat and claim the soul of.
Next: Link’s already a human wrecking ball, but this time the developers decided that wasn’t enough.
Friday, May 10, 2019
Twilight Princess: Arbiter's Grounds
The Arbiter’s Grounds is a combination of features of the best dungeons from Ocarina of Time. Like the Spirit Temple, it’s set in the desert and requires Link to have mastered both forms (in this case, human and wolf) to progress. (Okay, maybe this one is a bit of a stretch.) Like the Shadow Temple, it’s filled with undead and a general aura that this is a place where Bad Things happened. And the general progression is reminiscent of the Forest Temple. And the dungeon item is a cool new addition to the franchise. This is a very strong contender for my favorite dungeon in the franchise to date.
Much of the dungeon is filled with quicksand, so Link is left to cling to the few solid areas where he can stand. New enemies include Stalchidren and larger Stalfos, the latter finally providing a foe Link can practice Helm Splitting against. As in A Link to the Past (sort of), they need to be exploded with a bomb to be truly killed – one time I got lucky and dropped a bomb to kill the Stalfos I’d knocked out, then turned to fight the second one and oops! It got caught in the explosion and died anticlimactically. ReDeads make their appearance, and instead of draining life by grabbing Link, they instead try to thwack him with a sword while he’s stunned. And there are two types of enemies that exist to slow Link down by jumping on him: Poison Mites and Ghoul Rats, the latter only visible to wolf senses. As has been standard for this game, there are two heart pieces in the dungeon.
The first part of the dungeon is right out of the Forest Temple: There are four lanterns required to open the way forward, and four Poes steal their light and Link has to track them down, using the scent from the one who stayed in the central chamber as a guide. These Poes are different from the ones Link has fought for pieces of Jovani’s soul (although they still drop Poe Souls): much scarier-looking, and only becoming vulnerable when they’re about to attack. As with the Forest Temple’s Poe Sisters, the last Poe even splits into false doubles before attacking. Also like the Forest Temple, there are several puzzles in the dungeon where Link needs to spin rooms around to align the exits to the ways he needs to go.
The dungeon’s miniboss is Death Sword, a ghost wielding a giant sword. The first phase of the fight is like the other Poe fights in the dungeon, but after enough damage, it becomes visible without wolf senses. At this point, Link needs to shoot it with an arrow to draw it closer, then whack it with the sword. Beating it lets Link claim the dungeon’s prize, the Spinner. Link can ride the Spinner to glide over quicksand, but more importantly, he can latch onto the rails on the walls and ride. After a room teaching the player how to use the Spinner en route to the Big Key, Link finds one more use for the Spinner: sitting in indentations in the ground and spinning to open the way forward.
The final area is a giant sand pit. In the center of the pit is a skeletal dragon, and Zant appears and stabs a giant twilight sword into the skull, animating the twilit fossil, Stallord. In the first phase, the outer wall of the sand pit is ringed with a spinner track, so Link needs to hop on, get up speed, and charge at Stallord. After the first time, Stallord summons flunkies to guard him, so Link needs to bounce off them, taking enough out to get back and hit Stallord again. After three hits, the sand drains and the arena changes. Link finds himself in a ring pit, the inner and outer walls lined with rising spinner tracks. Stallord is reduced to its skull, but that’s still able to breathe fire. Link needs to jump between walls to avoid fireballs and traps to hit Stallord, knocking it down and letting Link pummel the twilight sword animating it. After enough hits, Stallord crumbles, the sword dissolves into a heart container, and the way out opens. Excellent boss fight.
After leaving the dungeon, Link makes his way to the mirror chamber atop the ruins. He first has to fight five shadow beings at once, then use the spinner to reveal the Mirror of Twilight… or what’s left of it. It’s broken.
Next: Some long-awaited backstory.
Much of the dungeon is filled with quicksand, so Link is left to cling to the few solid areas where he can stand. New enemies include Stalchidren and larger Stalfos, the latter finally providing a foe Link can practice Helm Splitting against. As in A Link to the Past (sort of), they need to be exploded with a bomb to be truly killed – one time I got lucky and dropped a bomb to kill the Stalfos I’d knocked out, then turned to fight the second one and oops! It got caught in the explosion and died anticlimactically. ReDeads make their appearance, and instead of draining life by grabbing Link, they instead try to thwack him with a sword while he’s stunned. And there are two types of enemies that exist to slow Link down by jumping on him: Poison Mites and Ghoul Rats, the latter only visible to wolf senses. As has been standard for this game, there are two heart pieces in the dungeon.
The first part of the dungeon is right out of the Forest Temple: There are four lanterns required to open the way forward, and four Poes steal their light and Link has to track them down, using the scent from the one who stayed in the central chamber as a guide. These Poes are different from the ones Link has fought for pieces of Jovani’s soul (although they still drop Poe Souls): much scarier-looking, and only becoming vulnerable when they’re about to attack. As with the Forest Temple’s Poe Sisters, the last Poe even splits into false doubles before attacking. Also like the Forest Temple, there are several puzzles in the dungeon where Link needs to spin rooms around to align the exits to the ways he needs to go.
The dungeon’s miniboss is Death Sword, a ghost wielding a giant sword. The first phase of the fight is like the other Poe fights in the dungeon, but after enough damage, it becomes visible without wolf senses. At this point, Link needs to shoot it with an arrow to draw it closer, then whack it with the sword. Beating it lets Link claim the dungeon’s prize, the Spinner. Link can ride the Spinner to glide over quicksand, but more importantly, he can latch onto the rails on the walls and ride. After a room teaching the player how to use the Spinner en route to the Big Key, Link finds one more use for the Spinner: sitting in indentations in the ground and spinning to open the way forward.
The final area is a giant sand pit. In the center of the pit is a skeletal dragon, and Zant appears and stabs a giant twilight sword into the skull, animating the twilit fossil, Stallord. In the first phase, the outer wall of the sand pit is ringed with a spinner track, so Link needs to hop on, get up speed, and charge at Stallord. After the first time, Stallord summons flunkies to guard him, so Link needs to bounce off them, taking enough out to get back and hit Stallord again. After three hits, the sand drains and the arena changes. Link finds himself in a ring pit, the inner and outer walls lined with rising spinner tracks. Stallord is reduced to its skull, but that’s still able to breathe fire. Link needs to jump between walls to avoid fireballs and traps to hit Stallord, knocking it down and letting Link pummel the twilight sword animating it. After enough hits, Stallord crumbles, the sword dissolves into a heart container, and the way out opens. Excellent boss fight.
After leaving the dungeon, Link makes his way to the mirror chamber atop the ruins. He first has to fight five shadow beings at once, then use the spinner to reveal the Mirror of Twilight… or what’s left of it. It’s broken.
Next: Some long-awaited backstory.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Twilight Princess: Gerudo Desert
The spot where Telma’s map indicated Auru has gone to is at the far southeast of Lake Hylia. Along the way there, Link finds another Howling Stone, this one with a tune I don’t recognize. The wolf appears off to the west, near a colosseum of some sort. There’s a watchtower in the area, and Auru’s at the top of it. He tells Link the history of the Gerudo Desert. There used to be a prison out there, and a mirror that was used to execute criminals. But now the road to the desert is impassable, and the prison has crumbled to ruins… but the mirror’s still out there. Auru points Link to Fyer, the man who runs the circus cannon. Auru saved Fyer’s life at some point, so now when he needs a favor, Fyer helps him out. In this case, he can calibrate the cannon to shoot Link to the desert. This flight’s paid for, but future ones will require spending rupees.
As Link lands in the desert, Midna decides it’s explanation time. After the Fused Shadow was taken from them, it wielders were chased from Hyrule into the Twilight Realm. Unable to return to the world of light, they became the Twili, the twilight people. And, as suggested during the encounter with Zant and by Midna’s familiarity with this story: it’s their ancestors. The Twili eventually made peace with their banishment, until Zant took over. The beings that Link’s fought at the portals are transformed Twili. Midna has only one way back into the Twilight Realm: the Mirror of Shadows – so I’m guessing that it’s the same mirror that was used to execute criminals. As the cutscene ends, Link looks off to the distance to see his destination, the colosseum we saw earlier with the golden wolf.
Enemies in the desert include Moldorms. This version burrows under the sand and pops out at Link unless he drags them out with the Clawshot, and I give up. Poes and Ghinis have differences that usually stay consistent between games. Iron Knuckles and Darknuts are basically interchangeable but only one or the other appears in any given game. But Moldorms and Lanmolas have appeared in the same game, but it seems when it comes time to assign a name they just randomly choose. But, whatever. These are Moldorms, and there’s nothing to do about it. Peahats also show up, but they’re not hostile and mostly exist for Link to catch a ride on with the Clawshot. There are also a bunch of Poes in the area, plus the last pair of insects, dayflies.
In the southwest corner, Link finds the missing piece of the Bridge of Eldin. After fighting off a shadow being set and opening a portal, he has Midna put it back to restore the path. Moving the bridge opens up what seems to be the endgame challenge dungeon. As Link heads north, he comes across a Bulblin camp. Once the Bulblins are all dealt with, Link can steal a boar and run around smashing all the wooden structures in the area to open up access to treasure chests. The key thing to do here is smash through the north fence to carry onward. On this path, Link meets the golden wolf, who opens up a chance to learn a new skill from the undead warrior: an iaijutsu strike called the Mortal Draw.
The next section involves passing through the main Bulblin compound. It’s meant to be a stealth mission, but you can totally blow every stealth roll and still make it through. You’ll just have to fight the entire compound, including the lookouts trying to snipe you. But their range is limited, and with the Hawkeye, Link can easily stand where they can’t hit and take them out. There’s a boar roasting over a fire, and if Link decides he wants bacon, he can hack at it until it turns into a heart piece. A locked room in the village houses a (live) boar – and the Bulblin King, back for round four. (That’s being generous and letting him count the time he caught Link unaware, without a sword, and more concerned for Ilia and Colin.) This is a straight-up sword fight, reminiscent of the Iron Knuckle fights from the N64 games. Link can wait for him to swing and miss, but it’s more satisfying to use the sword moves he’s learned. The Back Slice is perfect against a slow-moving opponent. After enough hits, King Bulblin gets up and moseys off. Unlike the last two times, he gets to strike back at Link in defeat, setting the compound on fire. Link steals King Bulblin’s boar, who’s spooked by the fire, and crashes through a bunch of barriers, dumping Link outside the colosseum.
Before heading in, there are a couple Poes here to collect. One is back in the now-abandoned Bulblin compound, the other right by the entrance. As far as I can tell, time doesn’t advance in area by the entrance, so I waited a long time for night to fall so I could collect its soul, only to realize I needed to go back to the Bulblin compound to wait for sundown.
Next: I’m just a Poe boy. Nobody loves me.
As Link lands in the desert, Midna decides it’s explanation time. After the Fused Shadow was taken from them, it wielders were chased from Hyrule into the Twilight Realm. Unable to return to the world of light, they became the Twili, the twilight people. And, as suggested during the encounter with Zant and by Midna’s familiarity with this story: it’s their ancestors. The Twili eventually made peace with their banishment, until Zant took over. The beings that Link’s fought at the portals are transformed Twili. Midna has only one way back into the Twilight Realm: the Mirror of Shadows – so I’m guessing that it’s the same mirror that was used to execute criminals. As the cutscene ends, Link looks off to the distance to see his destination, the colosseum we saw earlier with the golden wolf.
Enemies in the desert include Moldorms. This version burrows under the sand and pops out at Link unless he drags them out with the Clawshot, and I give up. Poes and Ghinis have differences that usually stay consistent between games. Iron Knuckles and Darknuts are basically interchangeable but only one or the other appears in any given game. But Moldorms and Lanmolas have appeared in the same game, but it seems when it comes time to assign a name they just randomly choose. But, whatever. These are Moldorms, and there’s nothing to do about it. Peahats also show up, but they’re not hostile and mostly exist for Link to catch a ride on with the Clawshot. There are also a bunch of Poes in the area, plus the last pair of insects, dayflies.
In the southwest corner, Link finds the missing piece of the Bridge of Eldin. After fighting off a shadow being set and opening a portal, he has Midna put it back to restore the path. Moving the bridge opens up what seems to be the endgame challenge dungeon. As Link heads north, he comes across a Bulblin camp. Once the Bulblins are all dealt with, Link can steal a boar and run around smashing all the wooden structures in the area to open up access to treasure chests. The key thing to do here is smash through the north fence to carry onward. On this path, Link meets the golden wolf, who opens up a chance to learn a new skill from the undead warrior: an iaijutsu strike called the Mortal Draw.
The next section involves passing through the main Bulblin compound. It’s meant to be a stealth mission, but you can totally blow every stealth roll and still make it through. You’ll just have to fight the entire compound, including the lookouts trying to snipe you. But their range is limited, and with the Hawkeye, Link can easily stand where they can’t hit and take them out. There’s a boar roasting over a fire, and if Link decides he wants bacon, he can hack at it until it turns into a heart piece. A locked room in the village houses a (live) boar – and the Bulblin King, back for round four. (That’s being generous and letting him count the time he caught Link unaware, without a sword, and more concerned for Ilia and Colin.) This is a straight-up sword fight, reminiscent of the Iron Knuckle fights from the N64 games. Link can wait for him to swing and miss, but it’s more satisfying to use the sword moves he’s learned. The Back Slice is perfect against a slow-moving opponent. After enough hits, King Bulblin gets up and moseys off. Unlike the last two times, he gets to strike back at Link in defeat, setting the compound on fire. Link steals King Bulblin’s boar, who’s spooked by the fire, and crashes through a bunch of barriers, dumping Link outside the colosseum.
Before heading in, there are a couple Poes here to collect. One is back in the now-abandoned Bulblin compound, the other right by the entrance. As far as I can tell, time doesn’t advance in area by the entrance, so I waited a long time for night to fall so I could collect its soul, only to realize I needed to go back to the Bulblin compound to wait for sundown.
Next: I’m just a Poe boy. Nobody loves me.
Monday, May 6, 2019
Twilight Princess: The Great Poe Soul Collection
The big drive for this section of the game is hunting Poes. The series has made some tedious collection sidequests before, but this one has to be in the running for the worst of them. Overworld Poes only come out at night. That’s a reasonable restriction, to be honest. Except… unlike the other games with day/night differences, there’s no way for Link to change day to night. So, you’ve got periods where Link can be standing right where he saw a lantern, but twiddling his thumbs waiting for the sun to go down. I suppose the intent is to go off and do other things during the day and come back at night, but there are problems with this. Poes aren’t always in the most convenient locations. There’s one on the island Link tries to land on during the Cucco glider minigame. And this isn’t Majora’s Mask, where time passes no matter what you’re doing – day and night stand still in certain locations, some obvious, some not. So… yeah, stand where the Poe spawns (or in a nearby area, if time doesn’t pass at the spawn point) and wait it is. And that’s when you happen to know where the Poes spawn.
Oh, and Jovani was wrong. Getting twenty of them cured his cat, but he’s only partially cured – he can move, but he’s still golden. Getting him back to normal is going to mean finding the rest of them: forty more. I suppose it was too much to hope that I could wrap up this quest about halfway through the game. Actually, given how annoying they are to find, I’m guessing the idea is you’ll run across twenty, enough to complete the main part of the quest, by chance, and get a pretty nice reward: a bottle with Great Fairy’s Tears, which functions approximately like the Elixir Soup in Wind Waker only it’s a single serving. (Jovani hints that there’s a source for these out in the desert.) The reward for sixty is probably going to be “Hey, you did this because you’re a completionist, now you can rest easy. What more do you need?”
While in Hyrule Castle Town, there’s a minigame run by a guy named Purlo who dresses kind of like Tingle. The game is called the STAR game, which is an acronym for four random words from the game’s instructions: “So, Track, And, Runs.” The full instructions are even more “someone really wanted our initials to spell” the word than the MCU’s name for SHIELD. Put more simply: There’s glowing balls in a room, and Link has 30 seconds to grab them all. With the Clawshot, it’s pretty easy to shoot around the room and grab all the balls. When Link Clawshots and grabs several balls in one go, three girls watching him play start squealing, and after his success, they drop hearts and run off if he tries to talk to them. Oh, but the main reward for finishing is a quiver upgrade from 30 to 60 arrows.
Out the south gate, the golden wolf is waiting to see Link again. The latest maneuver is a follow-up from the shield bash, called the helm splitter: Link vaults over the foe while they’re stunned by the shield bash, hitting them once, and whacks them again in the back for good measure. Again, I thought Helmasaurs would make a good foe to practice on, but they just curl up in a ball when shield bashed and there’s no chance to use this.
There’s one last minigame to play, this one run by a bird. The bird calls a giant Kargaroc to carry Wolf Link back up to Zora’s Domain, and along the way, Link can pop balloons for points. Popping the balloons isn’t really hard. There are two complications: each time Link pops the same kind of balloon as his last one, the points he gets are doubled, which means he needs to pick one type (strawberries are worth the most points, and putting together a string of 10 of them is enough to win outright). And second: yeah, flying the Kargaroc is still tricky, and if Link fall off, his score is 0. The reward for getting 10,000 points is a heart piece. There are two more heart pieces Link can get at this time: One in Lanayru’s cave, and the other in a cave by Eldin Bridge.
Now that Link can turn into a wolf mostly at will, there are some interesting places to dig and find underground caverns. One, in the barn at Ordon Ranch (the goats don’t like Wolf Link), and has a sparkly Rare ChuChu, whose jelly is functionally equivalent to the Great Fairy’s Tears. There’s another one with a great many ChuChus north of the castle, including blue ones, so I don’t think buying potions is ever going to be a concern. At this point, with two big money sinks behind me (1000 for a heart piece and 1798 for the Magic Armor), I’ve been using the Magic Armor to drain rupees rather than leave them behind. I’ve still got nine insects I can give to Agitha (with three left to find), and the Ordon Ranch cave has pots with a lot of rupees I could probably farm if I get desperate.
Next: Boaring onward.
Oh, and Jovani was wrong. Getting twenty of them cured his cat, but he’s only partially cured – he can move, but he’s still golden. Getting him back to normal is going to mean finding the rest of them: forty more. I suppose it was too much to hope that I could wrap up this quest about halfway through the game. Actually, given how annoying they are to find, I’m guessing the idea is you’ll run across twenty, enough to complete the main part of the quest, by chance, and get a pretty nice reward: a bottle with Great Fairy’s Tears, which functions approximately like the Elixir Soup in Wind Waker only it’s a single serving. (Jovani hints that there’s a source for these out in the desert.) The reward for sixty is probably going to be “Hey, you did this because you’re a completionist, now you can rest easy. What more do you need?”
While in Hyrule Castle Town, there’s a minigame run by a guy named Purlo who dresses kind of like Tingle. The game is called the STAR game, which is an acronym for four random words from the game’s instructions: “So, Track, And, Runs.” The full instructions are even more “someone really wanted our initials to spell” the word than the MCU’s name for SHIELD. Put more simply: There’s glowing balls in a room, and Link has 30 seconds to grab them all. With the Clawshot, it’s pretty easy to shoot around the room and grab all the balls. When Link Clawshots and grabs several balls in one go, three girls watching him play start squealing, and after his success, they drop hearts and run off if he tries to talk to them. Oh, but the main reward for finishing is a quiver upgrade from 30 to 60 arrows.
Out the south gate, the golden wolf is waiting to see Link again. The latest maneuver is a follow-up from the shield bash, called the helm splitter: Link vaults over the foe while they’re stunned by the shield bash, hitting them once, and whacks them again in the back for good measure. Again, I thought Helmasaurs would make a good foe to practice on, but they just curl up in a ball when shield bashed and there’s no chance to use this.
There’s one last minigame to play, this one run by a bird. The bird calls a giant Kargaroc to carry Wolf Link back up to Zora’s Domain, and along the way, Link can pop balloons for points. Popping the balloons isn’t really hard. There are two complications: each time Link pops the same kind of balloon as his last one, the points he gets are doubled, which means he needs to pick one type (strawberries are worth the most points, and putting together a string of 10 of them is enough to win outright). And second: yeah, flying the Kargaroc is still tricky, and if Link fall off, his score is 0. The reward for getting 10,000 points is a heart piece. There are two more heart pieces Link can get at this time: One in Lanayru’s cave, and the other in a cave by Eldin Bridge.
Now that Link can turn into a wolf mostly at will, there are some interesting places to dig and find underground caverns. One, in the barn at Ordon Ranch (the goats don’t like Wolf Link), and has a sparkly Rare ChuChu, whose jelly is functionally equivalent to the Great Fairy’s Tears. There’s another one with a great many ChuChus north of the castle, including blue ones, so I don’t think buying potions is ever going to be a concern. At this point, with two big money sinks behind me (1000 for a heart piece and 1798 for the Magic Armor), I’ve been using the Magic Armor to drain rupees rather than leave them behind. I’ve still got nine insects I can give to Agitha (with three left to find), and the Ordon Ranch cave has pots with a lot of rupees I could probably farm if I get desperate.
Next: Boaring onward.
Friday, May 3, 2019
Twilight Princess: Master Sword
As Link approaches the northern end of Faron Woods, his old monkey friend comes hopping over some ledges, chased by four large marionettes. After Link breaks the marionettes, the monkey thanks him by telling him about the area where she met them. With Midna’s help, Link’s able to jump across to the area the monkey came from. Along the way, he discovers another Howling Stone, this one with the Prelude of Light. The wolf appears south of Hyrule Castle. There’s another Howling Stone inside the woods marked with the Triforce that sings Zelda’s Lullaby. When Link howls it, a Skull Kid drops from the treetops and blows a trumpet, summoning a group of the marionettes [1], and runs off.
A game of hide-and-seek follows, with Link chasing the Skull Kid all over the forest while the marionettes chase him. And if Link destroys the marionettes, the Skull Kid will summon more. When Link gets close, the Skull Kid’s trumpet joins the background music (a subdued remix of Saria’s Song); when Link hits the Skull Kid with an attack, he runs off to hide somewhere else. After three times, he sets up for a straight fight, although he’s still tricky. He’ll teleport around the arena when Link gets too close, unless he’s preoccupied summoning more marionettes. After Link’s hit him three more times, he leaves, opening the way forward.
There’s one more test before Link can claim the Master Sword. After Link activates another Triforce glyph by howling Zelda’s Lullaby again, the terrain transforms into a series of tiles, and two statues come to life and jump to tiles in front of and behind Link. One statue mimics Link’s movements, the other does the reverse. The ultimate goal is to get the statues to the marked tiles (where they started). Once it’s done, they go inactive again and open the way forward to the Master Sword’s location.
As Link approaches the Master Sword, its magic turns him back into a human. Midna looks at the crystal that turned him into a wolf while Link draws the sword from its pedestal. Midna notes that the crystal is definitely not her people’s normal magic, and initially thinks it best to leave the crystal behind. But then she realizes the potential of Link being able to wolf out and back at will, so they decide to take advantage of Zant’s gift. Now Link can change as convenient, and has access to fast travel. Midna asks Link to help her find the Mirror of Twilight that she asked Zelda about.
Before heading back, there are a few things to collect. A rock where Link fought the Skull Kid can be blown up, revealing a Poe. This one seems to be a tutorial to show what to look for as a human (a floating lantern) and that Link can transform mid-combat to see and defeat the Poe and claim its soul. Under where the rock used to be, Link can dig into a cave where he’ll find a heart piece. And there’s a snail hiding in the area, but I couldn’t find its mate.
When Link returns to civilization, he’s greeted by the postman with a letter from Telma. She’s back home and wants Link to meet her friends. So Link goes to town and heads to the bar, where he finds two of the people he met before and a new guy wearing a mask. The ones he met before are apologetic for how they treated him. (Well, Shad is. Ashei’s more, “I wasn’t taught to be polite, so deal with it.”) The masked man’s silent at first, but then removes the mask and reveals that he’s Rusl! Uli’s told him about the kids, and he’s been to see them, and he’s grateful to Link for everything he’s done for Colin. And now he wants to help reclaim Hyrule from the Twilight, so he’s here. The missing member, Auru, is headed out to Lake Hylia to look into troubles in the desert. That’s Link’s next destination, but there’s sidequestin’ to do.
In the Castle Town, there’s a shop that’s only open a few hours every day. Even when it’s open, the doorman requires Link get his shoes shined to be allowed inside. And even if he does that, the prices are beyond what his wallet will hold [2]. But Malo’s got his eye on taking the shop over. First, he needs 1000 rupees to repair a bridge to town. That’s still a lot, but I left a lot behind in the last two dungeons [3] (including one chest in the Goron Mines only accessible via Clawshot) and in caves by Lake Hylia, and there’s always Agitha’s guests to deliver. After that, he wants 2000 rupees to buy the store. That’s a lot, but Link can bring it down to 200 rupees by helping the Goron who was selling spring water in town. This requires running a barrel of spring water through Hyrule Field while enemies harrass Link. The Bokoblins aren’t bad – in another universe, they’d be Imperial Stormtroopers. The Kargarocs can’t catch Link as he runs. But the Leevers will trip Link up and destroy the barrel before he reacts. It took a few tries to find a path with no Leevers to get the barrel safely to its target. (Link also gets a heart piece for his troubles, and can open the way south from town with spring water.) With that done, Malo buys out the shop – the music changes from a classy remix of the shop theme to a dance remix, with everyone in the store, including the previous owner, dancing – and Link can buy stuff. The highest item, the magic armor, costs 598 rupees. With no magic meter, it now drains rupees, and if Link doesn’t have any, becomes like he’s wearing the iron boots.
Next: Go. Hunt. Kill Pos.
[1] The Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask is a playable character in Hyrule Warriors. He’s got a move based on this that I had just assumed was based on the dancing scarecrows.
[2] I’m not sure just how much rupees are in any sort of real value. Is 50 rupees a lot? Obviously, we’re not meant to think about how the economy of Hyrule (and related lands) works, since rupees aren’t exactly scarce – you can find a bunch by mowing the lawn, which grows back with more hidden rupees in the time it takes you to go inside and come back, and prices are driven by gameplay concerns. But still, I wonder.
[3] Yep, iron boots up the goddamn slide, again.
A game of hide-and-seek follows, with Link chasing the Skull Kid all over the forest while the marionettes chase him. And if Link destroys the marionettes, the Skull Kid will summon more. When Link gets close, the Skull Kid’s trumpet joins the background music (a subdued remix of Saria’s Song); when Link hits the Skull Kid with an attack, he runs off to hide somewhere else. After three times, he sets up for a straight fight, although he’s still tricky. He’ll teleport around the arena when Link gets too close, unless he’s preoccupied summoning more marionettes. After Link’s hit him three more times, he leaves, opening the way forward.
There’s one more test before Link can claim the Master Sword. After Link activates another Triforce glyph by howling Zelda’s Lullaby again, the terrain transforms into a series of tiles, and two statues come to life and jump to tiles in front of and behind Link. One statue mimics Link’s movements, the other does the reverse. The ultimate goal is to get the statues to the marked tiles (where they started). Once it’s done, they go inactive again and open the way forward to the Master Sword’s location.
As Link approaches the Master Sword, its magic turns him back into a human. Midna looks at the crystal that turned him into a wolf while Link draws the sword from its pedestal. Midna notes that the crystal is definitely not her people’s normal magic, and initially thinks it best to leave the crystal behind. But then she realizes the potential of Link being able to wolf out and back at will, so they decide to take advantage of Zant’s gift. Now Link can change as convenient, and has access to fast travel. Midna asks Link to help her find the Mirror of Twilight that she asked Zelda about.
Before heading back, there are a few things to collect. A rock where Link fought the Skull Kid can be blown up, revealing a Poe. This one seems to be a tutorial to show what to look for as a human (a floating lantern) and that Link can transform mid-combat to see and defeat the Poe and claim its soul. Under where the rock used to be, Link can dig into a cave where he’ll find a heart piece. And there’s a snail hiding in the area, but I couldn’t find its mate.
When Link returns to civilization, he’s greeted by the postman with a letter from Telma. She’s back home and wants Link to meet her friends. So Link goes to town and heads to the bar, where he finds two of the people he met before and a new guy wearing a mask. The ones he met before are apologetic for how they treated him. (Well, Shad is. Ashei’s more, “I wasn’t taught to be polite, so deal with it.”) The masked man’s silent at first, but then removes the mask and reveals that he’s Rusl! Uli’s told him about the kids, and he’s been to see them, and he’s grateful to Link for everything he’s done for Colin. And now he wants to help reclaim Hyrule from the Twilight, so he’s here. The missing member, Auru, is headed out to Lake Hylia to look into troubles in the desert. That’s Link’s next destination, but there’s sidequestin’ to do.
In the Castle Town, there’s a shop that’s only open a few hours every day. Even when it’s open, the doorman requires Link get his shoes shined to be allowed inside. And even if he does that, the prices are beyond what his wallet will hold [2]. But Malo’s got his eye on taking the shop over. First, he needs 1000 rupees to repair a bridge to town. That’s still a lot, but I left a lot behind in the last two dungeons [3] (including one chest in the Goron Mines only accessible via Clawshot) and in caves by Lake Hylia, and there’s always Agitha’s guests to deliver. After that, he wants 2000 rupees to buy the store. That’s a lot, but Link can bring it down to 200 rupees by helping the Goron who was selling spring water in town. This requires running a barrel of spring water through Hyrule Field while enemies harrass Link. The Bokoblins aren’t bad – in another universe, they’d be Imperial Stormtroopers. The Kargarocs can’t catch Link as he runs. But the Leevers will trip Link up and destroy the barrel before he reacts. It took a few tries to find a path with no Leevers to get the barrel safely to its target. (Link also gets a heart piece for his troubles, and can open the way south from town with spring water.) With that done, Malo buys out the shop – the music changes from a classy remix of the shop theme to a dance remix, with everyone in the store, including the previous owner, dancing – and Link can buy stuff. The highest item, the magic armor, costs 598 rupees. With no magic meter, it now drains rupees, and if Link doesn’t have any, becomes like he’s wearing the iron boots.
Next: Go. Hunt. Kill Pos.
[1] The Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask is a playable character in Hyrule Warriors. He’s got a move based on this that I had just assumed was based on the dancing scarecrows.
[2] I’m not sure just how much rupees are in any sort of real value. Is 50 rupees a lot? Obviously, we’re not meant to think about how the economy of Hyrule (and related lands) works, since rupees aren’t exactly scarce – you can find a bunch by mowing the lawn, which grows back with more hidden rupees in the time it takes you to go inside and come back, and prices are driven by gameplay concerns. But still, I wonder.
[3] Yep, iron boots up the goddamn slide, again.
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Twilight Princess: Midna's Desperate Hour
After Link materializes back in Lanayru’s spring, he turns around and almost walks straight into Zant, who is taller than I thought. Zant banishes Lanayru, bringing the twilight back, and causing Link to turn back into a wolf. As Midna appears, he turns his magic on her, holding her still while he takes the Fused Shadows from her. He asks why she doesn’t respect him, and Midna accuses him of abusing their people’s power. Zant says it’s not their old power – his comes from his “god.” At this point, Link jumps at Zant and gets tossed back, and a crystal gets lodged in his head. Zant then tries to turn Midna against Link and the world of light, but she’s not having it. So Zant brings Lanayru back, exposing Midna to its light. Lanayru teleports Link and Midna away. I have to say, this Zant is a lot… more restrained, I guess?... than the one I know.
Despite the return of light, Link’s still a wolf. Worse, being brought into the light leaves Midna severely weakened and barely hanging on. Lanayru encourages Link to find Zelda, who can help. Link heads to Hyrule Castle Town, and remembering that Telma said there was a secret passage to the castle through her bar, tries to go there. Since it’s not Twilight, however, the people can see him and someone throws him out. (How much hardship could Link avoid by telling some people – people who know he’s not a bad guy, like Renado or Telma or his friends from home – he’s a werewolf but totally in control in wolf form, and that they can identify him by the manacle that’s somehow still stuck to his leg, so they know not to be scared of him?) As he leaves to find another way, Telma’s cat Louise stops him. She recognizes him from before, and shows him how to get into the rafters of the bar before leaving to distract the humans so they don’t notice a wolf running around overhead.
As Link makes his way through the bar, he can listen in on the people below. Telma’s made her way home with the help of a Goron. Her friends in the back have heard what Link did getting her and Ilia to Kakariko; they know it’s the same guy who came to the bar while Telma was away and regret their treatment of him. After leaving the bar, Link finds himself in a house that was locked up tight. Its inhabitant, Jovani, is turned to gold, with his pet cat also aurified and sitting atop his head. There’s a Poe here, and Jovani is the one who’s interested in Poe souls – they’re pieces of his soul that he sold for… well, I’m going to take a guess and say he wanted gold, and the wish granter was the type who, if Jovani had wished his girlfriend was hot like you, would have set the poor girl on fire. Anyway, Jovani thinks with 20 of the souls, he’ll be free. To let Link out, he opens a treasure chest, revealing a passage to the sewers.
Link quickly finds his way through the sewers to familiar territory. Things are different now – the enemies are regular enemies, not twilight versions of them, and Midna can’t help with jumps because she’s got to focus on not dying. The pair make it over the rooftops to the tower where Zelda’s imprioned, and up to her room. As it turns out, Midna doesn’t want Zelda to help her, but Link. His cure is beyond her, but she says that the evil power that has transformed Link can be driven out with the Master Sword. Then Midna asks Zelda to tell Link where the Mirror of Twilight is. That question seems to clarify something for Zelda, who realizes who Midna is. She blames herself – or maybe the Hyrulean people as a whole – for Midna’s state, and begins healing her. Midna realizes what this will mean for Zelda, and tries to get Link to stop her, but it’s too late. Midna is healed… and Zelda disappears.
Being Zelda is not an easy thing. Pretty much all of her incarnations have been kidnapped/captured/imprisoned, with the exceptions being the ones that spent most of their games under a sleeping curse or turned into a statue. There’ve been a few that the villains have intended to use as a human sacrifice, but Link’s always managed to stop that, except the time said sacrifice wasn’t fatal (A Link to the Past). Zeldas have had family die, been forced into hiding… but up till now they’ve never died. Since she’s not a Jedi and disappeared rather than crumbling, I’m guessing there’s going to be some way of bringing her back – but it’s still a shock for her to get this dead.
(Also, she’s barely been in this game, but somehow the model seen briefly in the scene where Zant stormed the castle has become her iconic look.)
Midna regrets Zelda’s choice, but isn’t going to let her sacrifice go to waste. She’s going to stick with Link and go to Faron Woods to help him. As they teleport out, the castle’s encased in a prism of twilight.
Next: I bought it! I am smart! I bought it at Malo Mart!
Despite the return of light, Link’s still a wolf. Worse, being brought into the light leaves Midna severely weakened and barely hanging on. Lanayru encourages Link to find Zelda, who can help. Link heads to Hyrule Castle Town, and remembering that Telma said there was a secret passage to the castle through her bar, tries to go there. Since it’s not Twilight, however, the people can see him and someone throws him out. (How much hardship could Link avoid by telling some people – people who know he’s not a bad guy, like Renado or Telma or his friends from home – he’s a werewolf but totally in control in wolf form, and that they can identify him by the manacle that’s somehow still stuck to his leg, so they know not to be scared of him?) As he leaves to find another way, Telma’s cat Louise stops him. She recognizes him from before, and shows him how to get into the rafters of the bar before leaving to distract the humans so they don’t notice a wolf running around overhead.
As Link makes his way through the bar, he can listen in on the people below. Telma’s made her way home with the help of a Goron. Her friends in the back have heard what Link did getting her and Ilia to Kakariko; they know it’s the same guy who came to the bar while Telma was away and regret their treatment of him. After leaving the bar, Link finds himself in a house that was locked up tight. Its inhabitant, Jovani, is turned to gold, with his pet cat also aurified and sitting atop his head. There’s a Poe here, and Jovani is the one who’s interested in Poe souls – they’re pieces of his soul that he sold for… well, I’m going to take a guess and say he wanted gold, and the wish granter was the type who, if Jovani had wished his girlfriend was hot like you, would have set the poor girl on fire. Anyway, Jovani thinks with 20 of the souls, he’ll be free. To let Link out, he opens a treasure chest, revealing a passage to the sewers.
Link quickly finds his way through the sewers to familiar territory. Things are different now – the enemies are regular enemies, not twilight versions of them, and Midna can’t help with jumps because she’s got to focus on not dying. The pair make it over the rooftops to the tower where Zelda’s imprioned, and up to her room. As it turns out, Midna doesn’t want Zelda to help her, but Link. His cure is beyond her, but she says that the evil power that has transformed Link can be driven out with the Master Sword. Then Midna asks Zelda to tell Link where the Mirror of Twilight is. That question seems to clarify something for Zelda, who realizes who Midna is. She blames herself – or maybe the Hyrulean people as a whole – for Midna’s state, and begins healing her. Midna realizes what this will mean for Zelda, and tries to get Link to stop her, but it’s too late. Midna is healed… and Zelda disappears.
Being Zelda is not an easy thing. Pretty much all of her incarnations have been kidnapped/captured/imprisoned, with the exceptions being the ones that spent most of their games under a sleeping curse or turned into a statue. There’ve been a few that the villains have intended to use as a human sacrifice, but Link’s always managed to stop that, except the time said sacrifice wasn’t fatal (A Link to the Past). Zeldas have had family die, been forced into hiding… but up till now they’ve never died. Since she’s not a Jedi and disappeared rather than crumbling, I’m guessing there’s going to be some way of bringing her back – but it’s still a shock for her to get this dead.
(Also, she’s barely been in this game, but somehow the model seen briefly in the scene where Zant stormed the castle has become her iconic look.)
Midna regrets Zelda’s choice, but isn’t going to let her sacrifice go to waste. She’s going to stick with Link and go to Faron Woods to help him. As they teleport out, the castle’s encased in a prism of twilight.
Next: I bought it! I am smart! I bought it at Malo Mart!
Monday, April 29, 2019
Twilight Princess: Lakebed Temple
The tunnel leading into the Lakebed Temple – before the location title pops up, even – has Shell Blades and Baris, two enemies that have historically favored the hookshot as a means of elimination. There are little targets all over the place inside the dungeon, as well as Helmasaurs (which should be the ideal target to practice the back slice on, but the bastards move too fast; by time Link’s rolling around behind them, they’ve turned to block). I put none of this together, nor the fact that the Water Temple in Ocarina dropped the Longshot, so I was pleasantly surprised when the dungeon’s treasure turned out to be the latest hookshot variant, the Clawshot. (And even then, I fought a couple Helmasaurs before remembering the “hookshot their masks off” trick.) In addition to its obvious functions, it can hold on to the ceiling while Link dangles and let Link skip some tedious climbing by grappling straight to the top of vine walls.
The central room of the dungeon has two main levels and a giant staircase that can be spun around. The goal of the dungeon is to raise the water level to the point where Link can swim to the platform on the central column with the boss door. There are two sets of water gates to open, one to the east, one to the west. The central room has the map and Ooccoo (how’d she get into an underwater temple?), the east side has the miniboss who drops the Clawshot, and the west side has the compass and big key. The water puzzles are thankfully not nearly as hard as they’ve been in, say, Ocarina or Oracle of Ages. The only really bad sequence is remembering there was a chest way up one of the ramps that got turned into a waterslide that he can maybe get to now with the Clawshot. Link has to use the iron boots to make his way up the ramp/slide, and it’s a long fscking way to go at iron boot speed. He can speed it up a little by walking on the ledge and Clawshotting, but it’s still rough. Oh, and that chest had rupees, which I couldn’t take because my wallet was full. (There are two heart pieces in the dungeon, but they come rather late.)
The miniboss fight appears to be empty aside from a few small enemies that fall to the floor. Midna has a bad feeling about it (her words, not mine) and encourages Link to look around; he spots Deku Toad against the ceiling. (Very reminiscent of the start of the Gohma fight in Ocarina.) Deku Toad is a giant bloated toad that carries the proud Legend of Zelda tradition of “boss-type creature with a bajillion eyes” (Patra, Arrghus, Vitreous, Wart). The "eyes" are actually eggs that hatch when Deku Toad shakes them loose, and Link needs to destroy all of them. Once that’s done, Deku Toad jumps up and tries to land on Link; if it fails, it belly-flops with its tongue lolling out in an obvious invitation to whack it with the sword. In its death throes, it coughs up a treasure chest with the Clawshot. The music for this fight is oddly comical, and I swear I hear the first few notes of Ballad of the Wind Fish in there.
The final boss fight takes place entirely underwater, which I believe is a first for the series. At first the boss resembles Morpha – a tube with an eye floating in it. Then it pokes its mouth out, surrounded by a lot of other tentacles, so, not quite the same, although its name is similar: Morpheel. (“Twilit Aquatic”? I get that they have the whole “twilit” thing going like Majora’s Mask had “masked,” but this is the best they could do?) There are two phases to this fight: First, the eye rolls around between tentacles, and Link can Clawshot it out and whack it a few times. After enough of this, Morpheel emerges from the ground in full, revealing itself to be a giant sea worm/serpent/eel, with the eye nestled on its back. So Link needs to take the iron boots off, and Clawshot to the eye to land on Morpheel’s back and strike at the eye some more. Like Diababa and Fyrus, this is an easy but very dynamic and fun fight.
Midna claims the last Fused Shadow, and says she’s ready to prove Zant’s power a false one. She tells Link not to resent her for dragging him all over Hyrule, but also apologizes for it. When Link’s ready to go, she teleports him outside.
Next: Link and Midna confront… no, wait. In Twilight Hyrule, villain confronts you!
The central room of the dungeon has two main levels and a giant staircase that can be spun around. The goal of the dungeon is to raise the water level to the point where Link can swim to the platform on the central column with the boss door. There are two sets of water gates to open, one to the east, one to the west. The central room has the map and Ooccoo (how’d she get into an underwater temple?), the east side has the miniboss who drops the Clawshot, and the west side has the compass and big key. The water puzzles are thankfully not nearly as hard as they’ve been in, say, Ocarina or Oracle of Ages. The only really bad sequence is remembering there was a chest way up one of the ramps that got turned into a waterslide that he can maybe get to now with the Clawshot. Link has to use the iron boots to make his way up the ramp/slide, and it’s a long fscking way to go at iron boot speed. He can speed it up a little by walking on the ledge and Clawshotting, but it’s still rough. Oh, and that chest had rupees, which I couldn’t take because my wallet was full. (There are two heart pieces in the dungeon, but they come rather late.)
The miniboss fight appears to be empty aside from a few small enemies that fall to the floor. Midna has a bad feeling about it (her words, not mine) and encourages Link to look around; he spots Deku Toad against the ceiling. (Very reminiscent of the start of the Gohma fight in Ocarina.) Deku Toad is a giant bloated toad that carries the proud Legend of Zelda tradition of “boss-type creature with a bajillion eyes” (Patra, Arrghus, Vitreous, Wart). The "eyes" are actually eggs that hatch when Deku Toad shakes them loose, and Link needs to destroy all of them. Once that’s done, Deku Toad jumps up and tries to land on Link; if it fails, it belly-flops with its tongue lolling out in an obvious invitation to whack it with the sword. In its death throes, it coughs up a treasure chest with the Clawshot. The music for this fight is oddly comical, and I swear I hear the first few notes of Ballad of the Wind Fish in there.
The final boss fight takes place entirely underwater, which I believe is a first for the series. At first the boss resembles Morpha – a tube with an eye floating in it. Then it pokes its mouth out, surrounded by a lot of other tentacles, so, not quite the same, although its name is similar: Morpheel. (“Twilit Aquatic”? I get that they have the whole “twilit” thing going like Majora’s Mask had “masked,” but this is the best they could do?) There are two phases to this fight: First, the eye rolls around between tentacles, and Link can Clawshot it out and whack it a few times. After enough of this, Morpheel emerges from the ground in full, revealing itself to be a giant sea worm/serpent/eel, with the eye nestled on its back. So Link needs to take the iron boots off, and Clawshot to the eye to land on Morpheel’s back and strike at the eye some more. Like Diababa and Fyrus, this is an easy but very dynamic and fun fight.
Midna claims the last Fused Shadow, and says she’s ready to prove Zant’s power a false one. She tells Link not to resent her for dragging him all over Hyrule, but also apologizes for it. When Link’s ready to go, she teleports him outside.
Next: Link and Midna confront… no, wait. In Twilight Hyrule, villain confronts you!
Friday, April 26, 2019
Twilight Princess: Lanayru Province Minigames
Still at Hyrule Castle, the Gorons have stopped selling their hot spring water – both because it’s not needed anymore with the river running again, and because the bridge being out means they can’t get it to town. This is too bad, because there’s another Goron who wants the spring water to give him strength to break through a rock, but that’s not happening yet. Before leaving town, there’s a few last things for Link to find or see. There’s a pair of ladybugs floating around the outlying areas of the town. There are a bunch of cats hanging out in an alley, and Link can pick them up and cuddle them and this is the best thing ever. At Telma’s bar, a few people – possibly the friends she mentioned – are hanging out while she’s still in Kakariko, but they don’t seem too receptive to Link.
North of Hyrule Castle Town, there’s a mountain pathway leading to Zora’s Domain – no more Kargaroc rides, thank you. Link’s first stop is the Zora throne room, where the giant rock he and Midna dropped to break the ice is still sitting there, underwater. The Zoras say they’ve seen eyes inside, and looking at it, yep, they’re there. There’s an unfortunate Goron trapped inside the rock, so when Link blows it up with a water bomb, he gets free and rewards Link with a second Bomb Bag, this one filled with normal bombs. Although… as I recall from Majora’s Mask, Gorons and swimming are not a good combination. He may be out of the rock, but there’s still the matter of getting to land. A male dragonfly can be caught in this area, and its female counterpart is in the river area.
The main attraction in the area are two minigames. The fishing hole is run by Hena, and judging by the pictures on her wall, she’s related to Iza (the woman who runs the boat rental) and the guy back in Ordon who sells lantern oil, but she has a simpler hairstyle. I didn’t think to bring any bait, but that’s okay, there’s a couple good things to catch that don’t need it. Out on the lake, Link can spot a heart piece, cast at it, and reel it in. Walking around the lake, there’s a little side area with a warning not to throw trash in it, and Link can cast into it and catch himself a bottle. This brings to mind something I thought of when Link got a bottle full of dog food in Minish Cap: does he ever wash these bottles between uses? In this game, I’ve had milk, oil, bee larvae, fairies, and ChuChu jelly in the bottles, plus whatever this bottle was once used to store (plus lake water). That’s going to be a disgusting mix of residues. (Sorry, I can’t unthink it, so now you’re stuck with it too.)
As for Iza, talking to her triggers a shadow being fight, opening up a portal so Wolf Link can warp up here. (Kargaroc rides officially closed.) Link’s proven useful to her so far, so she asks him to help out a little more. A large rock has blocked off her boats from the river, so she gives Link a bomb bag, and he blows up the rock using bomb arrows. There are more rocks along the river, so Link gets a trip in a rowboat, and the thing is a monster to control. Once he’s cleared the river, he gets to keep the bomb bag, and Iza’s opened up her archery minigame. Float down the river, shooting pots, and trying not to crash the fscking rowboat. I typically don’t do well at archery games, but the archery part here isn’t bad – it’s the boat. Crashing the boat loses a point, and there’s only so many points Link can afford to lose. The reward for this is doubling the capacity of all the bomb bags – so Link could theoretically have up to 180 bombs (or 90 water bombs). The huge capacity is balanced out by each bag being used for a different kind of bomb – and Barnes had a third spot on the sales rack, so there’ll likely be another kind (Bombchus?) later, meaning one for each bag.
In Lake Hylia, at the top of the cannon ride there’s a guy who runs a Cucco glider minigame. The goal is to land a bunch of stacked platforms on the lake. The top platform barely has space for its treasure chest (with 100 rupees) and spins, making landing on it pretty tough. Link can jump down to each lower platform and clean up the rewards, which include another heart piece. There’s also another series of caverns in the area, and I kind of regret tackling it now because I filled up Link’s wallet about halfway through. But there’s a heart piece at the end, Link left the rupees he couldn’t use behind, and there were a few floating lanterns – which I’m guessing is related to the Poe Link killed earlier, but Link can’t fight the Poes as a human. So I’ll be coming back, and can hopefully get some of the rupees I left behind then.
Finally, there’s no delaying it anymore. Link sinks to the bottom of the lake and uses a couple water bombs to open the entrance to the next temple.
Next: Well hey, the iron boots are now a normal inventory item, so there’s that.
North of Hyrule Castle Town, there’s a mountain pathway leading to Zora’s Domain – no more Kargaroc rides, thank you. Link’s first stop is the Zora throne room, where the giant rock he and Midna dropped to break the ice is still sitting there, underwater. The Zoras say they’ve seen eyes inside, and looking at it, yep, they’re there. There’s an unfortunate Goron trapped inside the rock, so when Link blows it up with a water bomb, he gets free and rewards Link with a second Bomb Bag, this one filled with normal bombs. Although… as I recall from Majora’s Mask, Gorons and swimming are not a good combination. He may be out of the rock, but there’s still the matter of getting to land. A male dragonfly can be caught in this area, and its female counterpart is in the river area.
The main attraction in the area are two minigames. The fishing hole is run by Hena, and judging by the pictures on her wall, she’s related to Iza (the woman who runs the boat rental) and the guy back in Ordon who sells lantern oil, but she has a simpler hairstyle. I didn’t think to bring any bait, but that’s okay, there’s a couple good things to catch that don’t need it. Out on the lake, Link can spot a heart piece, cast at it, and reel it in. Walking around the lake, there’s a little side area with a warning not to throw trash in it, and Link can cast into it and catch himself a bottle. This brings to mind something I thought of when Link got a bottle full of dog food in Minish Cap: does he ever wash these bottles between uses? In this game, I’ve had milk, oil, bee larvae, fairies, and ChuChu jelly in the bottles, plus whatever this bottle was once used to store (plus lake water). That’s going to be a disgusting mix of residues. (Sorry, I can’t unthink it, so now you’re stuck with it too.)
As for Iza, talking to her triggers a shadow being fight, opening up a portal so Wolf Link can warp up here. (Kargaroc rides officially closed.) Link’s proven useful to her so far, so she asks him to help out a little more. A large rock has blocked off her boats from the river, so she gives Link a bomb bag, and he blows up the rock using bomb arrows. There are more rocks along the river, so Link gets a trip in a rowboat, and the thing is a monster to control. Once he’s cleared the river, he gets to keep the bomb bag, and Iza’s opened up her archery minigame. Float down the river, shooting pots, and trying not to crash the fscking rowboat. I typically don’t do well at archery games, but the archery part here isn’t bad – it’s the boat. Crashing the boat loses a point, and there’s only so many points Link can afford to lose. The reward for this is doubling the capacity of all the bomb bags – so Link could theoretically have up to 180 bombs (or 90 water bombs). The huge capacity is balanced out by each bag being used for a different kind of bomb – and Barnes had a third spot on the sales rack, so there’ll likely be another kind (Bombchus?) later, meaning one for each bag.
In Lake Hylia, at the top of the cannon ride there’s a guy who runs a Cucco glider minigame. The goal is to land a bunch of stacked platforms on the lake. The top platform barely has space for its treasure chest (with 100 rupees) and spins, making landing on it pretty tough. Link can jump down to each lower platform and clean up the rewards, which include another heart piece. There’s also another series of caverns in the area, and I kind of regret tackling it now because I filled up Link’s wallet about halfway through. But there’s a heart piece at the end, Link left the rupees he couldn’t use behind, and there were a few floating lanterns – which I’m guessing is related to the Poe Link killed earlier, but Link can’t fight the Poes as a human. So I’ll be coming back, and can hopefully get some of the rupees I left behind then.
Finally, there’s no delaying it anymore. Link sinks to the bottom of the lake and uses a couple water bombs to open the entrance to the next temple.
Next: Well hey, the iron boots are now a normal inventory item, so there’s that.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Twilight Princess: Back to Kakariko Village
With the Bridge of Eldin out of service, the only way from Hyrule Castle Town to Kakariko Village is the long way over the Great Bridge of Hylia. That bridge is blocked by our old friend, King Bulblin (Goblinicus maximus). After being out-jousted by Link last time, he’s upgraded his gear: he now has big ACME Shields on either arm. Unfortunately for him, Link (Sagittarius equitatus) has also upgraded his gear, and an arrow can easily pass between the shields. After taking a couple shots, King Bulblin is once again sent flying off the bridge while Link sticks his head in the frame and says, “Beep beep!” Or maybe I just imagined that last part [1]. King Bulblin loses a key as he goes flying, and Link catches it. That key opens a couple gates along the way, which will make both this trip and future trips easier.
For the rest of the trip, Link is escorting the wagon with the woman from the bar, Ilia, and Ralis while Bulblin archers try to set it on fire. If they succeed, Link can put the fires out with his boomerang. That’s not the hard part. The problem is, there are Kargarocs flying overhead that cause the wagon to divert course if Link doesn’t take them out in time, and it took a frustratingly long time for me to connect the dots between them and the wagon going around in circles. Eventually, Link makes it to the village, where everyone’s safe. After looking after Ralis, Renado says he’ll be fine. Colin says he’ll stay with him until he wakes, and asks about Ilia’s condition. Renado confirms she’s lost her memory, but he’s confident she’ll get it back again somehow. Telma, the woman from the bar, introduces herself properly, and asks Link if he’d be interested in joining a group of people who are doing what they can to save Hyrule. Her bar’s the group’s headquarters, and she mentions that it has a secret passage to the castle.
As Telma heads off to talk to Renado, Rutela’s spirit appears to Link again. She leads him into the village graveyard and through a tunnel to where her people are buried. As she reaches her husband’s grave, she thanks him for all he’s done for Ralis and opens the grave, revealing the Zora Armor. It lets Link swim freely, but makes him vulnerable to fire and ice attacks. Finally, she tells Link to pass a message to Ralis if he gets a chance, telling him not to mourn her, that he must be brave now and lead the Zoras, and that she loves him. As Rutela disappears, Midna pops out, asking if Link’s forgotten the Fused Shadow. And just in case Link’s content with what he’s accomplished so far, she points out that Link hasn’t really done anything about the underlying problems that led to Hyrule being covered in shadow or the children being taken. It’s kind of a weird approach for her to take, since one of the reasons Link’s done all this was to get the item needed to get to the next dungeon.
As Link heads out of town, the postman catches up to him with a couple letters. One’s from Barnes, who’s already diversified his creations, and now sells bombs that work underwater. Link heads back to the bomb shop to check this out. Apparently the water bombs are incapable of coexisting inside the bomb bag with normal bombs, however, so Link first has to sell back all he has (at a separate counter spot, with Barnes pulling his welding mask down to talk to him there – it’s almost like he’s trying to disguise his identity, as if Link can’t see him pull down the mask and walk over) and then buy them. The second letter is from the Lanayru Tourism Association, advertising a couple minigames in the area: a fishing hole and an archery minigame.
On the way back to Lanayru’s area, Link can find four more insects: mantises by the Great Bridge, and butterflies near the entrance to Hyrule Castle Town. In town, there are two people Link needs to meet right now. The first is a man collecting rupees “for the sake of peace in Hyrule.” When Link donates to him, he says the spirit of love will descend upon Link. On the south road, Link finds Agitha’s Palace. Agitha calls herself the princess of the bug kingdom. She mistakes Link for a grasshopper (hey, that was Romani’s nickname for Link in Majora's Mask). She’s distressed because she’s invited a bunch of golden bugs to a ball, but they’ve gotten lost along the way [2]. When Link gives her the first insect, she rewards him with a wallet upgrade, doubling his capacity to 600 rupees. Afterward, she gives him 50 rupees for delivering each insect, unless it completes a pair, in which case she gives 100. And she says some truly bizarre things when given an insect. (“Li’l ant, li’l ant, I might mistake you for a grain and put you in my cereal…”) Link doesn’t give her all the bugs in one go, because why overfill his wallet, and as he leaves, she rather creepily informs him that she knows he still has some left. With the bugs, Link’s able to raise 1000 rupees to give to the collector, and after reaching that milestone, a heart piece comes to him out of the sky.
Next: Water dungeons tend to be so bad I’d rather play archery minigames than go to one.
[1] Road Runner jokes aside, the cutscenes at the start of this sequence are really well-done.
[2] Knowing the character from Hyrule Warriors, it’s no surprise she’s involved in this quest. The surprise is on Hyrule Warriors’ side; among Link, Impa, Sheik, Zelda, Ganon, Darunia, Ruto, Agitha, Midna, and Zant [3], Agitha’s clearly the odd choice.
[3] The original playable characters, minus an original character and two from Skyward Sword.
For the rest of the trip, Link is escorting the wagon with the woman from the bar, Ilia, and Ralis while Bulblin archers try to set it on fire. If they succeed, Link can put the fires out with his boomerang. That’s not the hard part. The problem is, there are Kargarocs flying overhead that cause the wagon to divert course if Link doesn’t take them out in time, and it took a frustratingly long time for me to connect the dots between them and the wagon going around in circles. Eventually, Link makes it to the village, where everyone’s safe. After looking after Ralis, Renado says he’ll be fine. Colin says he’ll stay with him until he wakes, and asks about Ilia’s condition. Renado confirms she’s lost her memory, but he’s confident she’ll get it back again somehow. Telma, the woman from the bar, introduces herself properly, and asks Link if he’d be interested in joining a group of people who are doing what they can to save Hyrule. Her bar’s the group’s headquarters, and she mentions that it has a secret passage to the castle.
As Telma heads off to talk to Renado, Rutela’s spirit appears to Link again. She leads him into the village graveyard and through a tunnel to where her people are buried. As she reaches her husband’s grave, she thanks him for all he’s done for Ralis and opens the grave, revealing the Zora Armor. It lets Link swim freely, but makes him vulnerable to fire and ice attacks. Finally, she tells Link to pass a message to Ralis if he gets a chance, telling him not to mourn her, that he must be brave now and lead the Zoras, and that she loves him. As Rutela disappears, Midna pops out, asking if Link’s forgotten the Fused Shadow. And just in case Link’s content with what he’s accomplished so far, she points out that Link hasn’t really done anything about the underlying problems that led to Hyrule being covered in shadow or the children being taken. It’s kind of a weird approach for her to take, since one of the reasons Link’s done all this was to get the item needed to get to the next dungeon.
As Link heads out of town, the postman catches up to him with a couple letters. One’s from Barnes, who’s already diversified his creations, and now sells bombs that work underwater. Link heads back to the bomb shop to check this out. Apparently the water bombs are incapable of coexisting inside the bomb bag with normal bombs, however, so Link first has to sell back all he has (at a separate counter spot, with Barnes pulling his welding mask down to talk to him there – it’s almost like he’s trying to disguise his identity, as if Link can’t see him pull down the mask and walk over) and then buy them. The second letter is from the Lanayru Tourism Association, advertising a couple minigames in the area: a fishing hole and an archery minigame.
On the way back to Lanayru’s area, Link can find four more insects: mantises by the Great Bridge, and butterflies near the entrance to Hyrule Castle Town. In town, there are two people Link needs to meet right now. The first is a man collecting rupees “for the sake of peace in Hyrule.” When Link donates to him, he says the spirit of love will descend upon Link. On the south road, Link finds Agitha’s Palace. Agitha calls herself the princess of the bug kingdom. She mistakes Link for a grasshopper (hey, that was Romani’s nickname for Link in Majora's Mask). She’s distressed because she’s invited a bunch of golden bugs to a ball, but they’ve gotten lost along the way [2]. When Link gives her the first insect, she rewards him with a wallet upgrade, doubling his capacity to 600 rupees. Afterward, she gives him 50 rupees for delivering each insect, unless it completes a pair, in which case she gives 100. And she says some truly bizarre things when given an insect. (“Li’l ant, li’l ant, I might mistake you for a grain and put you in my cereal…”) Link doesn’t give her all the bugs in one go, because why overfill his wallet, and as he leaves, she rather creepily informs him that she knows he still has some left. With the bugs, Link’s able to raise 1000 rupees to give to the collector, and after reaching that milestone, a heart piece comes to him out of the sky.
Next: Water dungeons tend to be so bad I’d rather play archery minigames than go to one.
[1] Road Runner jokes aside, the cutscenes at the start of this sequence are really well-done.
[2] Knowing the character from Hyrule Warriors, it’s no surprise she’s involved in this quest. The surprise is on Hyrule Warriors’ side; among Link, Impa, Sheik, Zelda, Ganon, Darunia, Ruto, Agitha, Midna, and Zant [3], Agitha’s clearly the odd choice.
[3] The original playable characters, minus an original character and two from Skyward Sword.
Monday, April 22, 2019
Twilight Princess: Lanayru
Lanayru, the last of the spirits to still be cursed, greets Link as he enters its spring, congratulating him on making it this far. The Tears of Light situation is well-known by now, so it gives Link the Vessel of Light and sends him on his way. Lanayru’s lands are considerably vaster than the other two spirits, and Link needs to travel all over to find all the Tears. There are only four at Lake Hylia – and along the way, there’s another shadow being fight. Midna points out the grass the Bokoblin used to call the giant Kargaroc, and at her suggestion, Link howls the same melody to summon it back. There are four shadow insects along the ride to Zora’s Domain. One more can be found near the boat rental shack, and another Howling Stone is nearby, this one singing the Requiem of Spirit and placing a golden wolf near the entrance to Hyrule Castle Town. This comes in useful because it also calls attention to a shadow insect in town for Link to come grab, with one more shadow being fight outside of town.
There are five up in Zora’s Domain; after collecting them, Midna points out that there’s still one missing. A quick look at the map shows it back at Lake Hylia, so they warp over. Immediately after arrival, a cutscene hints at where it is, and once Link swims over, the last insect pops out of the water. It’s still invisible without wolf senses, but the energy crackling around it indicates it’s massive. That’s confirmed when Link activates his wolf senses: the thing’s bigger than Midna. The miniboss fight has two phases: first, it buzzes at Link, and Link can jump at it when he gets a chance. After a while, it floats helplessly on its back, and Link needs to destroy its six appendages. They respawn too fast for Link to destroy them one-by-one, but Midna’s black circle attack works wonderfully.
As Lanayru reforms, Midna departs, reminding Link to be sure to get the last Fused Shadow. Lanayru’s form is some kind of sea serpent. It says the Fused Shadow is underwater in Lake Hylia. But before he goes after this, there’s something Link should know. Link has a vision while Lanayru narrates the history of the Fused Shadow: it was the artifact of a group of people who tried to use magic to conquer the Sacred Realm. Eventually, the goddesses had enough of this and had the light spirits intervene, breaking the Fused Shadow into pieces. It warns Link not to let himself be corrupted by the power of the Fused Shadow.
The vision was filled with strange and disturbing images: Link and Ilia with all-white eyes, a bunch of Shadow Links (one of which transformed into a normalish Link with the white eyes), and a bunch of upside-down creepily laughing Ilias. I’m not quite sure I entirely understood it, but I think I hit the main points. There’s one thing that I do know about it: when the Fused Shadow was broken into pieces, there were four of them, not three. However, that may not be a problem, because a couple of the pieces looked a lot like Midna’s headgear.
Getting from Lake Hylia to the higher ground where the bridge is requires Link to talk to the guy who spotted the Bokoblin earlier. He’s got a giant circus cannon that sends Link flying; he lands on the deck of a house with similar circus music playing. Midna reminds him of Queen Rutela’s quest, and promise to give him something that might let him actually visit the Lakebed Temple. Heading into Hyrule Castle Town, Link takes a moment to talk with the golden wolf, which opens up another sequence where the undead warrior teaches a skill. The skill this time is the Back Slice, in which Link rolls around behind the enemy and stabs it in the back. This is apparently useful for armored foes, so I fully expect Darknuts and/or Iron Knuckles to show up soon.
At Telma’s Bar, the town doctor decides he can’t help the Zora and storms out. Ilia tries to get him to stay, but he’s gone. She notices Link, but has no reaction to seeing him again, to Link’s dismay and confusion. The woman suggests taking the Zora to Renado, who might be able to do something. The soldiers in the bar say the journey’s dangerous, but are all excited about escorting them to the village, screaming and waving their spears – they remind me of Tusken Raiders. When the woman mentions dangerous beasts on the road, the soldiers fall silent, and when she turns to look at them again, only one is left, and he runs off. She curses their cowardice, but recognizes that Link’s still there and willing to help. She also recognizes that Link knows Ilia, and explains that she’s having memory problems.
Next: …this is whom Hyrule Warriors gave a roster spot to?
There are five up in Zora’s Domain; after collecting them, Midna points out that there’s still one missing. A quick look at the map shows it back at Lake Hylia, so they warp over. Immediately after arrival, a cutscene hints at where it is, and once Link swims over, the last insect pops out of the water. It’s still invisible without wolf senses, but the energy crackling around it indicates it’s massive. That’s confirmed when Link activates his wolf senses: the thing’s bigger than Midna. The miniboss fight has two phases: first, it buzzes at Link, and Link can jump at it when he gets a chance. After a while, it floats helplessly on its back, and Link needs to destroy its six appendages. They respawn too fast for Link to destroy them one-by-one, but Midna’s black circle attack works wonderfully.
As Lanayru reforms, Midna departs, reminding Link to be sure to get the last Fused Shadow. Lanayru’s form is some kind of sea serpent. It says the Fused Shadow is underwater in Lake Hylia. But before he goes after this, there’s something Link should know. Link has a vision while Lanayru narrates the history of the Fused Shadow: it was the artifact of a group of people who tried to use magic to conquer the Sacred Realm. Eventually, the goddesses had enough of this and had the light spirits intervene, breaking the Fused Shadow into pieces. It warns Link not to let himself be corrupted by the power of the Fused Shadow.
The vision was filled with strange and disturbing images: Link and Ilia with all-white eyes, a bunch of Shadow Links (one of which transformed into a normalish Link with the white eyes), and a bunch of upside-down creepily laughing Ilias. I’m not quite sure I entirely understood it, but I think I hit the main points. There’s one thing that I do know about it: when the Fused Shadow was broken into pieces, there were four of them, not three. However, that may not be a problem, because a couple of the pieces looked a lot like Midna’s headgear.
Getting from Lake Hylia to the higher ground where the bridge is requires Link to talk to the guy who spotted the Bokoblin earlier. He’s got a giant circus cannon that sends Link flying; he lands on the deck of a house with similar circus music playing. Midna reminds him of Queen Rutela’s quest, and promise to give him something that might let him actually visit the Lakebed Temple. Heading into Hyrule Castle Town, Link takes a moment to talk with the golden wolf, which opens up another sequence where the undead warrior teaches a skill. The skill this time is the Back Slice, in which Link rolls around behind the enemy and stabs it in the back. This is apparently useful for armored foes, so I fully expect Darknuts and/or Iron Knuckles to show up soon.
At Telma’s Bar, the town doctor decides he can’t help the Zora and storms out. Ilia tries to get him to stay, but he’s gone. She notices Link, but has no reaction to seeing him again, to Link’s dismay and confusion. The woman suggests taking the Zora to Renado, who might be able to do something. The soldiers in the bar say the journey’s dangerous, but are all excited about escorting them to the village, screaming and waving their spears – they remind me of Tusken Raiders. When the woman mentions dangerous beasts on the road, the soldiers fall silent, and when she turns to look at them again, only one is left, and he runs off. She curses their cowardice, but recognizes that Link’s still there and willing to help. She also recognizes that Link knows Ilia, and explains that she’s having memory problems.
Next: …this is whom Hyrule Warriors gave a roster spot to?
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