Wizzrobes must've given Misery Mire its name

I've been dogged by a foe since The Legend of Zelda on the NES. A mysterious, vanishing wizard in form obscuring garb: the wizzrobe. These guys have ended more of my adventures as Link than Ganon could ever hope to.

At the least, Misery Mire lived up to its name.

Within that dungeon's depths are some three Link corpses. One fell at the gaze of the dungeon's boss, the other two at the hands of wizzrobes. Each prone, green-tunicked body was swept aside with a quick reset, though.

I am going to finish this game with zero deaths. Even if it means playing parts of it four times over.

Besides, this ought to be the llast time I get careless and is definitely the last time I'll leave such a gap between saves. Nothing teaches you to save often like having to replay sections of a game over again.

Though this little boondoggle got me thinking. Saving in Zelda games was a roundabout process up  until the franchise went 3D.

In Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask you're asked if you want to save each time you exit your menu. In the HD remake of The Wind Waker, though, the save button is once more tucked aside.

Is this shift a reflection of Nintendo's broadening the Zelda franchise's approachability?

Most people who've picked up The Wind Waker probably have experience with the series if not that entry specifically. So the need to save frequently isn't really present, and putting the save button amidst your menus makes sense.

Whatever the case, my liason with A Link to the Past is just about over. The Ice Palace and Turtle Rock loom before Ganon's Tower, but each is about to take its own quick tumble.

Link eludes capture

One of the reasons why video games entries have been spotty lately is because I was waiting.

Waiting for a good time to test out my video capture set up.

Unfortunately, it looks like there are a few bugs that need working out, particularly my program's telling me that there is no capture device attached in the middle of displaying what's being fed through my capture device. That device by the way is the Diamond VC500. The software I'm running is Ulead VideoStudio 10. And yes, I'm running it all on an old version of Windows (XP).

Another of the reasons for the scarcity of entries about video games is that I was waiting for an opportune time to marathon A Link to the Past, my favourite entry in the Zelda series. Since I don't currently own a 3DS (or a 2DS, for that matter), I can't play A Link Between Worlds just yet and so I figured that its predecessor is the next best thing. That time's not come up, but more important than marathoning it, I want to get through the game without dying a single time.

Unfortunately, all I have with me (aside from an emulated copy, either on the Virtual Console (VC) or through less legitimate means) is the GBA port. Since I've already played through it on the GBA, I figured why not put the old Gamecube Game Boy Player to use and play it on the TV (or computer monitor, as the case may be). The trouble with the game's GBA port, though, is that Nintendo either forgot or neglected to port over Link's grunts from the original game. Instead Link's cries and struggles call up the Nintendo 64 entries in the series thanks to the use of child Link's sound effects.

Not only does this ruin the charm of the original game, but it assumes that this game's Link is the same age as child Link. But what in the game itself even suggests that?

Is it that he's living with his uncle? That he isn't in the middle of military training?

Everyone in Kakariko seems to know Link - unless he's some sort of Dennis the Menace-type character before the game begins, it seems like he'd need to have been active around town before people would be able to know him. To do that, he'd have to be at least a little older than the Link of Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask. I'd like to peg his age as that of the main character of a fun Zelda-esque Genesis game called Crusader of Centy: 14.

So, why am I playing this version when there's a perfectly good port on the VC? Because controlling it with the Gamecube controller's analog stick almost simulates walking on ice. It's just a little bit too sensitive. Considering I know the game well from playing through it several times, I welcome the extra challenge.

Somehow successful controlled exploration works

Pandora's Tower is already getting hard to put down. It's definitely a great game so far (though there is that glitch looming all the way down the line at tower 13), but I wonder if its format is as much the reason for my deep investment in it as the gameplay and chain combat are.

Here's what I mean:

In a Zelda game (a good Pandora's Tower analogue) you do the same thing you're doing in Pandora's Tower, and Zelda games are, by and large, great games. But, in a Zelda game, your exploration isn't limited by the need to restore a gauge every now and then (except for Majora's Mask). You can explore any time, anywhere - even in situations like Ocarina of Time's endgame where Zelda has been taken by Ganondorf in a moment of lowered guard. After that point in the game you could spend another in-game month or more wrapping up sidequests (or even just fishing) and Ganondorf and Zelda would still be where you'd find them if you rushed off right away to Ganon's Castle. As a result, the exploration in a Zelda game is (at least by game's end) without restriction.

Pandora's Tower on the other hand forces you to explore the towers in temporal chunks. If you knew where everything was, surely you could get through each tower in the time that each one's master flesh buys you, but otherwise there'd be a lot of trekking back and forth. Because of the game's curse mechanic, every minute in the towers counts.

Now, servant beasts aren't wanting as it is, but even so you couldn't grab some basic flesh, delve into a tower until the curse is just minutes away from coming into full effect and reliably get back in time to force Elena to down some beast brawn. So, at least in my current playthrough, in an average session of 30 minutes, I'm spending about 20 actually in the towers, inching through them on each visit.

Nonetheless, it's the control that the game exercises over your exploration that makes it so compelling to me. Exploration is parcelled out in such small pieces that it becomes a reward for a well managed inventory, a well fed Elena, and a well-outfitted Aeron. The curse mechanic itself presents a puzzle, the solution to which offers the reward of an efficiently running Observatory and a maximization of time to spend in the towers.

Don't hate the bosses, hate the boss anterooms

Ganon's Tower is ready to be ascended. Link's got his Hero's Charm, and all four of the previous bosses have been beaten.

Go figure that game's most fun boss battle becomes the hardest when replayed. Not to mention that its lead up is also the most frustrating. It's one thing to perfectly land on a moving platform after gently wafting over with the Deku Leaf, but it's quite another to inch your way down a hallway, reluctant to wake any sleeping Redeads. Unless we get to see them in glorious HD once Zelda U's released, The Wind Waker's Redeads are still the series' creepiest.

Re-fighting the bosses is a nice call back to Majora's Mask's optional boss rush. Doing so in black and white, rather than The Wind Waker's full colour is neat too. It's as if Link were fighting the memories of these bosses, or perhaps Ganon's reconstructions of them. They are, after all, all his creatures.

What's left unclear, though, is whether defeating them merely opens the door to Ganon or if it causes a break in whatever power he had to actively exert to maintain the four part lock on the door to the stairs. The latter makes Ganon seem all the more fierce an opponent, and an enemy truly able to don three forms to battle with the Hero of Winds.

A sword that radiates light without heat

The fight against Molgera in the Wind Temple is incredible. It's a little weird that anything would leave its weak spot so conveniently exposed, but, well, yeah.

In an ideal world the smaller sand worms that it sends out would actually be bits of its tail. They would curl up when hit them and you would need to toss them into Molgera's gaping maw to shorten it and expose the main body's weak point.

Nonetheless, it was an intense battle, even if it came from a designer on the Zelda team simply acting on the thought: "What if we forced players to beat Twinmold from Majora's Mask as regular sized Link?"

Now, all that's left in the game, aside from the final dungeon and the battle with Ganondorf, is to find all the pieces of the Triforce of Courage. The section of the game that's reviled by as many fans as there are people who dismissed The Wind Waker out of hand because of its graphical style. I think it'll be a good excuse to go through some sidequests and to work my way through all of the treasure charts I've collected.

But, this last part of the game won't be as awesome as it could have been. The Master Sword is fully powered up now, and it creates its own light when drawn. It gives off no heat though. Beam-shaped, projectile heat, I mean. Even when Link's at full hearts.

It's disappointing that Link's swings don't shoot sword beams because it makes the final form of the Master Sword less badass, and because Fierce Deity Link could fire off energy waves in Majora's Mask.

The games' relative sizes aside, isn't the Gamecube more powerful than the Nintendo 64? Where are those sword beams at?

In the Earth Temple's Depths

I didn't remember just how co-operative the Earth Temple is. Perhaps it was a matter of running up against the Gamecube's limitations, but the game would be much more interesting if more than the final two dungeons were one-player co-op experiences.

Having two separate inputs in a 3D adventure-type environment can't be easy to keep track of, after all. Plus, some sort of system for door opening would be needed. An alternative could be to make the game split screen and give each dungeon player their own third person view, but stuff could be easily missed then.

Aesthetically, the Earth temple is this game's Shadow Temple. Being an Earth temple, what's safe to assume would have been a place worshipping the fertility of the earth and whatnot, its creepy, old ruin look and atmosphere at first seem out of place. But, kick in the fact that a giant stone head and an impassable magic door were blocking it off for centuries, it's not too surprising to find it populated with floor masters, purple chuchus, and redeads.

Oh boy, this game's redeads. They aren't the lurching creepy polygonal mask-wearing bodies of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but they have a jibblies-inspiring look all their own. And rather than just moaning and latching onto you they screech and their faces become clown-ish before they launch their teal skeletal forms at you. Indeed, their's is a kind of scare that only the Happy Mask Salesman could conjure.

From Sea to Sky: Zelda Hub Areas

The Wind Waker's sidequests are, mostly kept to Windfall Island. This is much appreciated, since having too many involving sailing (even with the cyclones to warp around in) would just be too much. It's also handy having so many of the island's citizens interested in items that monsters drop.

But this use of a central trading/social/quest center is curious in the wider context of the Zelda games. All of those before Ocarina of Time had no such location. The quests were spread out amidst the various places where you found people, either holed up in caves, or under bridges, or in huts off the beaten path.

Even in Ocarina of Time, there really isn't a central hub. Sure, it has the Castle Town, but there are enough shops in Kakariko Village and Kokiri Forest, and enough things to do in and around the Gerudo Fortress to keep your interests spread out. But in The Wind Waker (and in Majora's Mask) most of the shops and quests can be found in one location. Though these games hold their central places in balance with the rest of the game's map.

Although there are story-related reasons for it, Skyward Sword takes having one central location way too far. Outside of Skyloft there are really no shops, no quests, no mini-games. At least, there aren't nearly as many outside of the game's hub as there are in earlier Zelda titles.

But there are still helpful creatures living on the surface - why don't the Gorons have a shop? Or the Mogma? Why doesn't one of the Kikwi collect Ornamental Skulls as part of her punk rock rebellion? Or why doesn't a Parella want something you need to trade with characters from all over the world to get? How can a game set largely in the sky be so empty when one set in the sea is so lush?

No Lead too Small

They may be nothing but flights of fancy jotted down on sketches and concept art, but the small details the Hyrule Historia reveals are telling. It seems that most are from Skyward Sword's early development, before things like Skyloft being the only town-like island in the sky, and all of its residents were set in stone.

Of particular interest, especially given how the hub nature of Skyloft echoes that of Clock Town in Majora's Mask, is a wee note on a sketch of "Lumpy Pumpkin Customer 1/Older Regular Customer 4." The note reads as follows: "He has taken a liking to the Lumpy Pumpkin and shows up at least once a day" (36).

As I wrote, it's not much, but it suggests that there might have been a town schedule for all of Skyloft's residents, as there was for Clock Town's in Majora's Mask. Perhaps, as is often the case with elements of Zelda games that disappear through development, such a scheduled world center will appear again in Zelda Wii U. Who knows, maybe we'll even hear about it in just over a month's time at E3.

Away Game Special: Where Stereotypical Librarians Reign

Say what you will about Majora's Mask, but the Bomber's Notebook is an excellent way to keep track of side quests. Playing Skyward Sword in snatches definitely makes remembering side quests rather difficult. Putting little dialogue boxes over characters' heads does work as a good reminder, but having to rove around looking for characters with said bubbles over their heads is almost as bad as roving around talking with everyone you meet.

Anyway, the whole reason why side quests were emphasized in my most recent (and last for the time being, alas) Skyward Sword play through, is because all that's left of the main game (as far as I know) is the final silent realm, the last dungeon, and the final boss. Those last two points are pretty moot as Zelda's final dungeons are always just bigger dungeons, and Zelda's final bosses are always (especially in Twilight Princess) epic challenges that dare you to push your skills beyond what you've done before. But that silent realm bit before them.

The silent realm, for all the flack it's gotten, is something I kind of admire. There's not much in Zelda games that can put you on edge like a 3-D stealth/collect section, and this is both good and bad. It's good because it evokes such a visceral reaction. And it's bad for the same reason, but also because it does so in such a way as to deter players (at least those playing over large spans of time) from progressing in the game.

If I was just playing through Skyward Sword on my own, the silent realms would be sections that might give some grief, but would be worked through relatively quickly. But playing with another person, these parts of the game just aren't the sort of thing that you want to charge into when your time with that other person is already short.

What I'm getting at here, in my own roundabout way, is that I hope Zelda on the Wii U doesn't have this sort of stealth/collect mechanic - especially if they succeed in integrating/creating some sort of multiplayer story mode. If they do, such sections would have incredible potential to take the manic, raw energy of a four player New Super Mario Bros. Wii session to all new heights.

Everyday I'm Shovellin'

At last! The shovel! It took some doing, since the price was higher than expected, but I finally managed to buy the shovel. The game hasn't fallen apart because of it, but at long last, new avenues to treasure have opened up for me. And it seems that secluded patches of bare earth open into holes a la the bomb/song holes in Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask. So the game has stretched itself before me just a little more.

However, as progress is made, it seems that some things are getting harder to find.

Fighting the flying, sleeping, rooting pigs just outside of Tingle's house used to yield quite a bit of the item "Minced Meat." Now, though, they drop rupees much more often. Maybe it's just the game's way of making it difficult to heal up my ailing bodyguard, the same way that some of the old Zelda games only give you hearts in abundance when you least need them.

Of course, it might also be the game saying that the most basic of healing potions is no longer as necessary as it once was.

Indeed, maybe the "Simple Juice" will prove more effective than mere "Tingly."

Oh, and regarding the question of where this game fits into the Zelda timeline/universe, in Lon Lon Meadow there's a guy who looks a lot like Ingo. He's been in Ocarina of Time as a farmhand, so there's still a strong case for Tingle's game occuring somewhere around there.

Perhaps, since this is the adventure he goes on before Tingle's looking for a fairy (as he and Link are in Majora's Mask), this game takes place in tandem with Ocarina of Time. Perhaps.

The Where and When?

At long last -- the shovel is within my reach! But, not using a guide, I low-balled Duke the pelvic-thrusting construction worker, and wound up shovel-less. For now.

Of course, such a situation could only arise in a game like Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (or maybe Captain Rainbow). What's really curious about this game, once you get past the construction worker obviously inspired by the Village People, is that the enemies you face can be weird mash-ups. In Lon Lon Meadow, for instance, there are cows that have grey alien-looking heads on them. And where there are mushrooms that take root when you look at them and become nothing more than toadstools.

At any rate, the reference to Lon Lon Ranch is a good sign, though, since it's still just a meadow, could this game be placed before Hyrule is as advanced as it is in Ocarina of Time? Or, since it stars Tingle, is this game taking place in Termina?

Hopefully by the game's end such questions can be answered, or, at the least, the game can be placed on the Zelda timeline. That could be truly wild.

Looking for Links

Another session of Tingle, another little bit of farming. Though, this time, the 2,250 rupees I tossed into the fountain atop the tower were enough to send it up to 57m in height.

Apparently, that height compares with a sail ship, according to the computer in Tingle's house. Maybe a little dubious, but so be it. What's really dubious, though, is how Uncle Rupee really does keep looking classier and classier. I mean, nothing says classy like a powdered wig, right?

Now that the tower's taller, a new continent's been opened up. Hopefully this means that the shovel can finally be found. That maybe some kind of fishing line can be found, and that more valuable items can be obtained.

At first glance, this doesn't seem like a long game, but given all the farming you've got to do if you don't know just how much to charge for an item, or for a service, it can be pretty time consuming. Also, aside from the Zora head in Treasure Cove, I'm still waiting on more of a reference to mainstream Zelda. Maybe later on Tingle will meet a fairy? Maybe that's how he gets into the hunt for a fairy that we see him on in Majora's Mask?

Or maybe when he first appeared in Majora's Mask Tingle was just supposed to be Termina's Link...

Hopefully not though.

Not quite Hallway-Hallway-Hallway-Boss, but still...

All right! Face Shrine down, two more dungeons to go!

Actually, that particular dungeon has made something clear. The top-down viewpoint lends itself to more complex puzzles and orienteering.

Now, I haven't played much of the handheld Zelda games beyond Minish Cap, but all of the console Zelda games to date have had fairly straightforward dungeons. That is, rather than delaying your getting the map and/or the compass, most of the dungeons in Zelda games since Ocarina of Time have lead you to one or the other (or both) fairly early on.

On the other hand, in the Face Shrine, I only found the compass and map shortly before getting the big key. Part of this might be some rust on my gaming skills, but I also think that the 3D Zelda games have much more linear dungeons. That is, you're much more hamstrung into going in one set direction (more often than not because other rooms branching off of the first couple of rooms are only accessible only with the dungeon's special item).

Skyward Sword's dungeons are huge and impressive, but even they are designed in a similar way. You go in, early on you get the map or compass (or both) and then find the dungeon's item, and finally the boss key.

Sometimes the pattern is broken up with a late compass or early item, but the boss key is almost always the last thing you come across. This pattern makes sense in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, where the full freedom of 3D motion coupled with a third-person perspective might have been overwhelming in dungeons that can be almost freely wandered around. But, that the same linearity is still detectable in Skyward Sword is disappointing.

Perhaps we'll finally see something mirroring the difficulty of the top-down Zelda games' dungeons' designs in WiiU Zelda, where the gamepad (even if only used as a map) opens up some excellent possibilities.

What Happens After A Zelda "Game Over" Screen?

Although Link's Awakening occupies a place in the middle of one of the official Zelda timeline's branches, what you find in the Face Shrine suggests otherwise. It's a small detail, sure, but the inscription on the wall suggests that Link's dead. Or at the least, somehow in or on the Wind Fish.

The inscription reads, in full: 

“TO THE FINDER… THE ISLE OF KOHOLINT , IS BUT AN ILLUSION… HUMAN, MONSTER, SEA, SKY… A SCENE ON THE LID OF A SLEEPER’S EYE… AWAKE THE DREAMER, AND KOHOLINT WILL VANISH MUCH LIKE A BUBBLE ON A NEEDLE… CASTAWAY, YOU SHOULD KNOW THE TRUTH!”
(As quoted in Zelda Dungeon's walkthrough) 

This inscription confirms that Koholint island is just an illusion. In fact, it goes so far as to imply that it's just the Wind Fish's dream. Just to the North of the Face Shrine, though, is an owl statue. 

In Link's Awakening these statues work kind of like the Gossip Stones in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. They share in-world information, although the owl statues are a fair bit more cryptic. Especially the one in question, which says: 

“THE WIND FISH SLUMBERS LONG… THE HERO’S LIFE GONE…”

Definitely making a connection between the illusory island and Link's being dead. Though it's ambiguous about whether Link's dead only while the Wind Fish sleeps, or if Link is dead and the Wind Fish's dream is some kind of afterlife. 

Since most of the games are supposed to star a different Link and Zelda, the hero's being dead isn't out of the question, but it would be absolutely wild to know for sure. 

Discovering What's Missing from Modern Zelda

I've been playing quite a bit more Link's Awakening lately, and something struck me the other day. One of the big complaints about recent Zelda games is that they don't highlight discovery nearly as much as earlier iterations of the series. I think that part of the reason for this is graphical.

Let me explain.

Link's Awakening (even in it's excellent technicolor update, Link's Awakening DX) is not a graphically impressive game. It uses simple sprites and easy animations, that are just a notch or two above the flash of the NES.

However, one thing (aside from the obvious graphical difference) that sets it apart from the modern Zelda games is that it scrolls from screen to screen. That is, as you step from one room or area to the next, the entire screen moves with you.

Okay. This might not seem like a big deal. But think about that in terms of the feeling of discovery so often associated with The Legend of Zelda in its early days.

In The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, and A Link to the Past especially, the very way in which you move through the world obstructs your view and your perspective of that world as a whole. Rather than conceiving of the world as one singularity intuitively (because the graphics tell you to, as they do in a 3D world, seen in third person), I think players more readily think of those earlier games' worlds as a series of screens that may or may not be directly connected.

Therefore, when something new is discovered, it's not so much a feeling of "oh wow, that rock just totally had a cave in it!" but instead, "oh snap! That little individual mini-world had so much more hidden in it! I wonder if this sort of thing happens anywhere else in the game?" This sort of intensification of discovery is definitely manifold when you discover an underground passage that takes you from one side of the overworld to the other.

Since the game world opened up into the 3D venue, this excitement of exploration simply hasn't been as potent.

Yes, there are things to discover in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword, but they aren't as super charged with a sense of wonder as their earlier counterparts. Sure, you still move from one locale to the other (between which there are some minor load times) but rather than the sense of a limited perspective that the top-down, eagle-eye view provides, we're placed firmly behind Link, and see everything before us quite clearly - even things that are quite far away.

Now, two special cases need to be mentioned here. Skyward Sword, I think, actually takes a step towards re-creating the sense of discovery that comes from having a limited perspective. You can still see things off in the distance, but they're blurred, and indefinite. This distance blurring (rather than just not showing far off things at all, or showing them clearly but in perspective) sets up vague expectations.

With such vague expectations set up, the discovery of what's actually in the distance becomes more complex than just experiencing that place as a locale or setting for an event, it becomes possible to meet with the unexpected - just as you might if you only see the world one screen at a time. Wind Waker does something similar with its sailing mechanic.

And I think that's what's really missing from modern Zelda games (handheld titles aside, since they still retain that top-down look): a sense of limitations. After all, it's breaking these limitations or finding loop holes around them (secret connecting passages), that made past Zelda games exciting, discovery-filled experiences. And getting back to that with the modern size of games and hardware capabilities would make for an incredible Zelda experience.

A Surprising Natural Resource

Recently setting up the wireless connection to the Nintendo Wii has opened up all new avenues of gaming to me, however, I've still been mostly playing Link's Awakening. These forays into the Game Boy classic have been characterized by fairly quick runs through the game's dungeons, and an increased level of ease since I now have the pegasus boots.

However, one thing that continually throws me for a loop (other than dying while I'm distracted by trying to edit a podcast while I play) is that so many of the places that look like they'll hide buried treasure (some sweet, sweet seashells!) don't have anything at all.

What I'm referring to are patches of ground on the map that are of a different colour than the rest of the ground, or patches of land underneath rocks (or between them) that are somewhat out of the way. All of these yield nothing - but an errant rupee or heart.

On that note, are hearts the oil of Kohonolit Island? I guess the same could be asked of rupees, but rupees could just as easily be dropped and then buried by dust stirred by the wind. But the only place that hearts can logically come from is from fallen enemies (or pots...but who would bury pots?).

So, are the hearts that you dig up on the island the fossilized remains of long-dead pre-historic octoroks and moblins?

Maybe I'm just overthinking this, and they're just there because of convenience. Rupees, and hearts are the standard power ups of the game, and so rupees and hearts are what the ground hides.

But, on that note, another issue: why aren't there multi-coloured rupees in this game? I mean, yes, the whole multicoloured thing wouldn't be easy for the original version, but a black rupee and a white one, maybe? Having different denominations appear from enemy drops or dig-ups would make farming enough to finally buy the bow so much easier. Though I suppose that's what the monkey and his nuts (down on the beach) are for, right?

At any rate, with the pegasus boots in my bag of infinite holding, I struck out for the dream shrine and collected the ocarina. It's definitely not much compared to the instrument we see in the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but it's still a great little item.

What's really the best about it though, is that Link has no proficiency with it out of the gate, if you try to use it without having learned any songs you just get a short animation of him playing some flat notes. This is a mechanic that should be featured in the next Zelda game that features an instrument.

It's kind of what happens with the harp in Skyward Sword simply by virtue of that instrument's having a pretty gentle learning curve to begin with, but whatever instrument Link gets next should be so powerful/useful that you need to actually learn the basics before stringing together known and maybe even original songs to various ends.