Notes on Radiant Historia's ending

Wow. What an ending that was. No doubt, it helped that every node was finished and so I was treated to the "true ending."

In said ending, everything works out all hunky dory, and everyone is left living in a world that is on track for entirely avoiding destruction by desertification. Every loose end is wrapped up, and every character's arc comes to a fine end. Plus, as nothing but the best imaginable icing on top of a game that's already a fine cake, what's best described as a mildly upbeat anime-style end them is sung over the closing credits. Incredible!

However. Anything this great stirs some feeling of the opposite sort to. Turn back now if you don't want some of the game's end spoiled.

First, as you may expect, it's hinted that Stocke is still alive somewhere somehow when Kiel and the Rosch brigade show up as Rosch wraps up erecting graves. According to Kiel a man who was accustomed to living off the land helped them - a man dressed in red. After this scene we're shown what happened when Stocke's soul was sacrificed. Long story short, it wasn't.

Heiss, using the last of his strength, peers into the future that Stocke had envisioned and finds that the world isn't as doomed as he had thought. This causes a change of heart, which is enough for Heiss to have the awakening required to make him a proper sacrifice. The awakening being a desire to give one's own life for the sake of another. Heiss, having given up his soul, freed Stocke to return to the world, and this is the final thing that you see before the pitch perfect credits roll.

Within the world of the game this is a great ending, everything is, as mentioned above, hunky dory in the end. Plus, from a storytelling perspective, though it easily could've, the game refrains from going wholly Hollywood with its ending since we don't see any of Stocke's reunions with those who fought for him and alongside whom he fought. This is especially a good move in the case of Raynie's arc, since it's much more powerful to leave it with her waiting for his return so they can begin their life together. No scene of their reunion could match what each player imagines, and so not showing it is the better move.

Breaking up this chronology, though, let's go back to the final boss fight.

After defeating four powered up enemies from earlier in the game, you go on to fight the Black Chronicle itself and then the three layered The World Ends With You/Final Fantasy VI-style Apocrypha.

The first fight of the final set (the one with the Black Chronicle) is perfect.

Just as with Skyward Sword's final battle against Demise, it uses the game's battle mechanic in a way that's practically perfect. In this fight the only way to actually damage the Chronicle is to push another enemy into it/it into another enemy, and then attack that other enemy. Plus - the Black Chronicle can outright disable any of your characters' commands. Being between levels 61 and 64, though, made this battle short and so the book didn't have much chance to wreak havoc with my commands.

The second phase of the final boss battle, as was the case with Skyward Sword's Demise, takes a step back from the genius use of its game's characteristic battle mechanic. Anything to do with the game's featured battlefield grid is done away with as each layer of the Apocrypha fills the entire enemy side of the screen.

Instead, Apocrypha's one claim to challenge is its barrage of status effect causing attacks. Curiously, though, despite its having a group attack that causes "sleep" and another that causes "curse," it had only a single character attack that caused "stone." Needless to say, Apocrypha took some whittling, but Marco, Raynie and Stocke eventually brought it down.

It my have just been character's stats, but there did seem to be some fluctuation in Apocrypha's magic resistance/weakness, but there was no way to tell when this changed, or if G-Frost/Fire/Thunder did extra damage simply because somewhere a digital d20 was coming up with 20s instead of 15s, so to speak.

Overall, Radiant Historia's ending is a truly satisfying way for the game to come to a close. The series of boss battles leading up to the final scenes might not make you feel like you've achieved much, but as a whole experience, the game well deserves the accolades it's been given as a great game and a stellar RPG. 50 hours can't lie.

Restrictive controls

The fight with Doctor Peace was as good a place as any to remind myself that you need to hold "1" while jerking the wiimote to charge Travis' beam sword. Oh, No More Heroes. At least blocking his bullets is automatic. Though just being able to hit "A" to attack and only periodically actually having to swing is disappointing.

Playing an array of games from a console's lifespan with no regard to the chronology of their release dates never mattered at all until the Wii came along. With Skyward Sword forever engraved in my memory (muscle and otherwise), it's underwhelming to just run up to a boss and hit "A," shifting from "High" to "Low" hits with motion control. Still, the game's voice acting is good and the cinematics are an excellent touch.

Plus, as an RPG and Legend of Zelda fan, having an actual speaking protagonist is a great plus. Though, it has stood in the way of Travis' being as much of a proxy for me as say Crono or Link.

Returning to No More Heroes

With The Wind Waker finished and the Gamecube titles in the "Wrap-Up" portion of my Game List now exhausted, it's back to the Wii. Specifically, since the sprawling Xenoblade Chronicles will make a better finishing piece for the "Wrap Up" part of my Game List, I'm now playing No More Heroes.

For those unfamiliar with the title, it's similar to recent Grand Theft Auto games, but much more focussed. Rather than doing a myriad of missions for various mobs, the protagonist of No More Heroes, Travis Touchdown, is merely pursuing his goal of being the greatest assassin. So you spend the game going around doing various jobs to earn enough money to pay the admission fees for Ranking Fights. In these fights, Travis faces off against one of the 10 assassins that he's trying to top, and assumes their rank once they've been defeated.

I'd just barely started to play it before getting swept up with other things, so all I had to relearn upon picking it up again were the controls. They're pretty straight forward. The nunchuck controls Travis' movements, the "A" button interacts with things, and "B" cancels things. The others do specific menu-and HUD-related tasks.

The game doesn't use precise motion controls for Travis' beam sword, a la Skyward Sword, but once you've engaged with an enemy a direction will flash on the screen, prompting you to finish off the enemy or your current combo. It's an all right system, and the game's free-roaming city-sized world offers welcome exploration potential. Though it's a very empty feeling place since the only conscious person on it is Travis. Everyone else wandering and driving around is just a shell, moving about and yielding to Travis no matter what.

After the wind's been woken

Ganon's Tower was way longer than I remembered. The maze and finding the Light Arrows and then your final ascent to where Ganondorf and Zelda wait had been entirely forgotten. And that's pretty surprising.

The maze is easy enough, and the final ascent is uneventful. But, the major reason for those final stairs and the enemies along the landings being so quickly dismissed is the Light Arrows. A single one of the shining projectiles instantly destroys any enemy - from Bokoblins to Darknuts. With magic jars on almost every landing, shooting down the final lines of enemies is entirely painless. Though the fight with Puppet Ganon makes up for that.

The first two forms are easily dispatched. Bring the glowing blue orb into view, and hit it with a light arrow. Bang, done. But, this boss' third form, the Moldorm form, is just plain terrible. Fighting the Moldorm in A Link to the Past is bad because it takes patience and timing to land enough hits - but at least in that game you've got the 3/4 view in your favour.

Once you find yourself in the middle of Puppet Ganon's Moldorm form all you can do is slash and hope to hit the head to buy yourself some escape time. Though that gives you hardly enough time to get out and to shoot at the flailing worm's tail. That's definitely what makes this section of the final boss so difficult, though. In its appearances in previous games, you could just slash at Moldorm's tail. But, instead you need to use the Light Arrows on said tail. Needless to say, striking Puppet Ganon's Moldorm tail requires a little more accuracy.

The final fight in this boss sequence is shockingly easy after dealing with the thrashing body and rapidly moving target that is Puppet Ganon's Moldorm form. The fight with Ganondorf just sees you slash away at the villain until you need to let Zelda hit you with a light arrow to stun the Great King of Evil. That last downward blow to the head always looks like it should do more than just turn the man to stone, but so it goes.

Having recently finished Skyward Sword, there are actually a few strange similarities between these boss fights. The formation of the swords that Ganondorf uses to block Link's attacks changes with each strike, similar to Demise's constant blocking of Link's first attack. Both enemies are also downed by a downward strike, something that could allude to the Downward Stab from The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Of course, what I'm left wondering is was there a point in The Wind Waker's development at which players had more control over the angle of Link's attacks, or is Ganondorf's changing his swords' arrangement each time he blocks merely aesthetic?

In the end, The Wind Waker is a worthy entry in the Zelda franchise, despite the hate piled on it when it released in the West. The game's cartoony style brings back the whimsy found in A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening - a quality that helps any good game shine brighter.

Comparing gauntlets

The lead up to Ganon's Tower in The Wind Waker seems like it's a prototype for the lead up to Skyward Sword's final boss sequence. Both are gauntlets in the form of continuous battles with a variety of enemies, though Skyward Sword's feels much much more like Link is being pitted against the army of evil.

Compared to the trials you have to go through to get the Triforce Shards, it's quite literally a walk through a field. Though the fight against two Darknuts in a ring of fire is an exciting - though not very challenging - one. Since The Wind Waker's enemy walk is so underwhelming on the Gamecube, since you just march right through (and can even just run past most of them), it'll be very interesting to see what's done with it in the HD remake. The hardware differences should make whatever change the Zelda team makes stand out.

Hopefully they don't change the reward for the Gold Membership at the Beedle Shop Ships. It comes late in the game, and might seem useless, but the "Fill-Up Coupon" is the perfect way to re-fill everything before you go down to sunken Hyrule for the final time.

Away Game Special: the Demise of Skyward Sword

They finally got it right. It took the whole game, but the Zelda team got it. Yes, the final boss fight against Demise itself is the definition of epic. Link gets teleported to what must be the Sacred Realm (or at least the realm from which Zelda sends Adult Link back through time at the end of Ocarina of Time), your opponent looks to be twice your size, you fight in the middle of a lightning storm.

And, oh yeah, the sword fighting is pretty much like actual sword fighting.

Link swings, Demise defends, and in defending leaves you an opening to exploit. Plus, it doesn't leave its sword just hanging in its block, waiting for your counter attack, but actually withdraws and defends again seconds later.

Though, the second part of Skyward Sword's final boss does fall prey to having an attack elaborate enough to just wait out. Demise's electrified sword does massive damage to the Goddess Sheild and, unfortunately can't be countered directly.

Nonetheless, the fire-ringed final fight with Ganondorf from Twilight Princess has been topped, and now it's really anyone's guess as to how Zelda Wii U's boss will carry on with this upward trend in awesomeness.

Seas v. Skies

Link is pretty impervious. He takes getting hit by cannon fire quite well, losing only 1/4 of a heart. And the King of Red Lions takes no visible damage whatsoever.

The sea battles in The Wind Waker, as simple as they are, are definitely the game's overworld's saving grace. They make travelling between places more interesting, and add an extra layer to accessing those islands around which ships keep a tight perimeter. It's also hard to deny that it's just plain fun to put on the Magic Shield and barge into a three-on-one bout, cannon blazing.

This built-in distraction from travel is what Skyward Sword's "Above the Clouds" area is missing. There are some enemies flying around up there, but none of them actually engage you. They'll fire off rocks as you pass, or fly in a set pattern bearing rupees, but none give chase or effectively bar your way.

As lush and lovely as Skyward's Sword's environments are, its three dimensionality of movement in flight is what does that mechanic in. Nothing can really bar your way if you can just fly over or under it. Though jumping over sharks on the Great Sea is fine.

An eventful dungeon crawl

The Wind Temple is well suited to all of its dirt and trees. It's a low down place that takes advantage of your progressing through it. When Makar had sprouted all the requisite trees and the door into the main chamber opened, I balked at the brief scene in which he's surrounded by Floormasters, fearing the need to back track to the first room. I went ahead anyway, convinced that I could get the hookshot without him.

However, as it happened, Makar had just been moved into the main chamber, locked behind a giant stone statue. So I went on, and had my conviction confirmed. The hookshot was handily found and won, and Makar was as good as freed.

But this in-dungeon event is a solid example of what the Zelda team claims to be trying to do with the series. When we first had word of the game that would become Skyward Sword, making the overworld and dungeons more seamless was one of the major things that they were trying to achieve. In some small way, they did it here.

Dungeons are, after all, a space in a video game where players get to try their skills against the game's challenges. They have to use what they have with/around them to solve puzzles, defeat enemies, and move forward. More often than not, these are solitary affairs, any accompanying characters basically becoming an advanced sort of box. You can drop them on switches, move them about, maybe use their special ability to solve puzzles, but they don't necessarily get much personality outside of their dialogue and appearance.

However, putting events, actual things that happen because x, y, and/or z have happened (or are "True," or are present), in dungeons changes their feel all together. It allows the other characters in the dungeon (traditionally populated only with monsters) to actually interact with the player as characters and not just another tool to be used.

In the briefest terms, it takes the dungeon experience (where the usual interaction is with enemies and involves putting your weapons through them) and adds a more nuanced interaction. Adding this interaction is what can make the dungeon/overworld split more seamless because it makes the two areas seem more alike, rather than each being especially set aside for different purposes. Dungeons thus have the potential to become bustling places of character and story development rather than being the thing that players work through to get to the next social area where story and plot can develop.

Hopefully we see this sort of seamlessness fully implemented in Zelda Wii U.

So Much More than Button Mashing

Skyward Sword was lauded for its 1:1 motion controls. For the first time in a Zelda game, you had direct control over Link's sword. Quite obviously, this lent itself to some new combat mechanics, ultimately leading to enemies blocking certain angles of attack, forcing players to change their combat strategy.

The Wind Waker's combat isn't as complex as Skyward Sword's, but it would be hasty to dismiss button-driven combat. Hitting the "B" button to slash, the "A" button to execute a special attack, or the "R" button to bring up your shield does make for some simple combat. Enemies don't block certain angles, or only expose their vulnerabilities on certain planes. But your timing can still be off.

Training against Orca on Windfall, this became crystal clear. Striking him 100, or 300, or 1000 times before he strike you thrice is always a matter of patience. But, if your timing is off then you'll miss a moment to counter, or the animation for Link's flurry of blows will keep you from blocking an incoming blow. Judging distance is also important for Link's counter attacks, since leaving too little room leads to Link getting caught by the very attack you pressed buttons to counter.

I will admit that coming back to a traditional controller after having spent years playing the Wii, it took some getting used to. Especially since my last significant Zelda experience was with Skyward Sword. Nonetheless, there's still challenge to button-driven combat. Hopefully we see a blending of the two in Zelda Wii U that plays up button-driven, and motion controlled combat.

Of Fairy Queens and Game Symmetry

Why is it played up as so strange that the Queen of Fairies in The Wind Waker is a child? I suppose it comes from the qualities of that child, really. If it wasn't for the marionette version of the other great fairies that you encounter in the game, she might look like just a regular child. The music that plays while you meet with her definitely plays up the strangeness. Actually, the light percussion is reminiscent of the sounds of the wooden soldiers the Skull Kid sends after you in Twilight Princess.

In any case, a neat piece of continuity was  brought about when the designers for Skyward Sword decided to take The Wind Waker's Queen of Fairies-esque look for Fi. The way that the great fairy you meet on the sea zaps up into the sky definitely brings to mind some sort of long-forgotten advanced society mistaken for something fantastical. Just the sort of advanced society that created Fi.

In the concept art for The Wind Waker, the mysterious GameCube island is mentioned, and it seems to me that it became the "Angular Isles" in the final game. Perhaps there would have been a way (probably with the hammer) to press the open button or the power button to create some sort of hole. It makes it sound like The Wind Waker could have been a very different game, but the concept art of a fisherman who would warp you between the ocean floor and the surface cement this impression.

It's curious how the ice and fire arrows have such a complementary relationship in The Wind Waker. The ice arrows open up the Earth Temple by letting you through Fire Mountain, and the fire arrows open up the Wind Temple by letting you through Ice Ring Isle. There's a cool symmetry there that really sums up the game's tidy whimsy as a whole.

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?

Away Game Special: Trying to Make Better Triforce Matches

Getting the Triforce in Skyward Sword is every bit as challenging as was expected. The battles involved are all pitched and appropriately difficult, the puzzles as drawn out as they ought to be, the added challenge of shuffling rooms deftly used.

But.

The challenges set for each piece weren't entirely well matched. Having a puzzle put in the way to the Triforce of Wisdom makes perfect sense. This is the best match by far.

Setting a series of fights before the Triforce of Courage (including, technically, the battle with Dreadfuse) also makes sense.

However, with the exception of the large room filled with Bokoblin archers and footmen and Stalfos, the battles involved would have been better suited to the Triforce of Power. Especially the battle with the four armed Stalfos in which cursed Bokoblins constantly swarm you.

If Skyward Sword was a virtual reality game, this battle would suit the Triforce of Courage quite nicely. But, given that the game's core mechanic is 1:1 motion control over a sword, such an involved battle can easily be reduced to what is essentially button mashing. This intense quality of the battle would have made it a better fit for the challenge blocking the way to the Triforce of Power.

Moving on to that piece of the Triforce, the puzzle room set before it is quite a mismatch. Sure, the symbol of Din suggests the Death Mountain areas of games later in the timeline (and the fire temple found in Skyward Sword's own mountains), but what you need to do to navigate through the room has more to do with timing and problem solving - actions more readily associated with Wisdom than with Power.

Instead of this fire-based puzzle room, a better fit for the challenge before the Triforce of Power would be a battle with an incredibly powerful, highly intelligent enemy (such as a Darknut from Twilight Princess). In such a battle it would have to be necessary to overpower the Darknut-like enemy to create an opening. Perhaps to overpower this enemy you would have to perform well-timed shield bashes or make well-placed Skyward Strikes.

Actually, it's disappointing that there wasn't any need at all for Skyward Strikes in the Sky Keep, since that's this game's signature move. Not to mention, the supposed importance of that technique to Skyward Sword given its similarity to the game's title.

Nonetheless, the Sky Keep holds up as a solid dungeon, and something that I hope to see more of in future Zelda titles.

If we once more collect the Triforce in a future title, though, hopefully the method of doing so is better matched to game-specific mechanics and the meaning of those sacred triangles.

Away Game Special: In the Hidden Temple in the Sky

The final (I know I've said that in this blog of a few dungeons, now) dungeon of Skyward Sword is excellent. The mechanic of shifting the placement of rooms via a sliding block puzzle is a great way to add challenge to what otherwise might have been a very quick affair.

Because, writing honestly, there's little that can stand in your way at this point in the game. You've got all the sword upgrades, all the items, all the knowledge and experience gleaned from a game's worth of play. In fact, the greatest challenge so far (aside from figuring out the best room from which to slide around the other rooms) was the fight with Dreadfuse.

Timing shield hits to knock this miniboss off balance and avoiding his electrified sword and hook proved downright trying after having re-adjusted to The Wind Waker's controls. Still, there are probably tougher monsters guarding the pieces of the Triforce. Or, perhaps they'll all be three hit K.O. pushovers.

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.

Taking Analog Aim at an Old Dungeon Boss

The Wind Waker's dungeons continue to be great fun. The Tower of the Gods merits some special mention, though. This is a dungeon that's enjoyable to wrok through, but also a bit of a challenge in spots.

This difficulty comes partially from the platforming but also, as someone coming back to a 3-D Zelda game after playing Skyward Sword, from aiming and firing the bow with an analog stick and a button.

It's a lot more difficult to aim accurately with that system after being able to just point and shoot, as you can in Skyward Sword since there's an extra delay between you and your target. Rather than being able to just look and shoot you need to look, move your bow into place and then fire. It might not sound like much, but it can really take some re-adjustment, adding that second step back into the equation.

The Tower's boss  nicely caps off the experience of playing through it, too. Though, having the stone head automatically snort out arrows whenever you run out really takes the pressure off. It makes me wonder why the hands couldn't pound the ground every now and then, shaking debris from the ceiling, debris which periodically had a few arrows in it. Plus, such an attack would really complete the call back to Bongo Bongo from the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time.

A History that Never Was

Hyrule Historia is a must for anyone who calls themselves a Zelda fan. It's true that it gives a bit too much space to Skyward Sword, but the coverage of the other games is greatly appreciated. Though, I wonder if maybe it's been so well received because instruction manuals no longer have as much trivia/concept art as they did in the days of the NES, and SNES.

However, none of those manuals ever had a comic in the back of them.

Compared to the full-bodied manga done by the two-lady team of Akira Hinakawa, that found at the back of the Historia's quite short, but the art is just as sweeping as any of the full-volume counterparts. And the story reads like something that could be a cutscene from Skyward Sword or another game in itself. Which makes fine sense, since the Zelda games keep getting deeper and deeper into that world's past. Hopefully the Wii U game bucks this trend, as we've gone back far enough, for now.

Overworlds on my Mind

Although the permanent night hangs in the sky, my winding course back to Outset was un-interrupted. Aside from by a squid attack that showed me how terrible my aim with the canon's gotten.

Along the way I stopped off with the map fish so that I could chart islands as I went, but I've still filled in less than half of the map. The sea between islands really is as empty as the sky in Skyward Sword, but aside from there being multiple islands, sailing around lends a sense of there being something there to be found. Maybe it's simply because water is more of a something than air. Water is also easier to hide treasure in than air, though being able to remove the rubble in the sky to reveal hidden chests or items would be awesome.

Alas, when it comes to overworlds, The Wind Waker simply trounces Skyward Sword.

A Vibrant Dungeon is a Fun Dungeon?

Something that The Wind Waker is strangely missing is the title screen that shows up before for bosses. For whatever reason, they aren't announced in this one. But, whatever the reason, I just trounced what I would call Dread Lotus Mega Baba (the boss of the Forbidden Woods). The fight wasn't a hard one, though it certainly required a lot of timing. Waiting for the boomerang to come back being what made it so, since the tendrils you cut down with your 'rang slowly grow back.

The seed ceremony's definitely one of my favourite scenes in the game, and so a fitting reward for finishing the second dungeon. Though, slowly I'm beginning to remember that the dungeons in The Wind Waker are neither the longest nor the hardest in the Zelda series. Somehow, for all their whimsy and imagination, they just aren't as harrowing as those in Twilight Princess or some of the ones in Skyward Sword. Perhaps the game's graphical style has something to do with that.

That's not to say that The Wind Waker's cell-shaded style reflects its being a kiddie (read easy) game. More along the lines of its colourful artistry being a welcome break from realism and thus making the dungeons more fun, and therefore shorter seeming. Skyward Sword also does a decent job of this, leaving Twilight Princess with the longest feeling dungeons, for the most part. Maybe there is something to graphical styles beyond polygons and definition.

Returning to the Sea

I really miss the ability to roll bombs. When I arrived on Dragon Roost Island for the first time, and had to clear away some rubble my first instinct was to clear the distance to a rock with a nice roll. Instead, all Link can do in The Wind Waker is lob bombs in a general sort of arc.

Ah well, at least the exploration is still relatively fresh.

Delving into long since forgotten about caves and then catching vague memorized glimpses of what's available beyond the limits of my current inventory is almost as thrilling as revealing those secrets the first time around. That, and the sheer immensity of the sea promises a great deal of adventure.

I think that's what really captures the imagination when playing The Wind Waker. Skyward Sword has a big open sky, but what's in the sky? Nothing but clouds and clouds and clouds. And what's in a big rolling sea? Monsters, and treasures, and uncharted isles, and adventure - that's what.

Along with its timelessly whimsical art style, perhaps that's what makes The Wind Waker an enduring Zelda title. Human curiousity is so much more aroused by sea than by sky. It's almost as if we're seafarers rather than sky searchers by nature.

Seeing Pie in the Sky as I Climb on by

Eagle's Tower is proving rather labyrinthine. This situation's mostly due to my re-trading the boomerang for my shovel (which didn't even pay off), since that handy missile can go over the floor panels that the crystal ball switches raise. Some extra running around has made up the difference, but only too late did I remember (with the prompting of an owl statue) that the key to this dungeon is to knock down the pillars on the second floor.

Being an older game, the order in which you take out the pillars doesn't matter. If you knock down two (out of four) that are directly across from each other, the dungeon doesn't suddenly lean to that side - though that would be an incredible thing to implement with an earth temple in a new Zelda game.

Maybe this dungeon could be a tall barrow that had become a kind of cavern, and knocking out ceiling to floor supports caused the dungeon to lean, which would open up new paths and give you access to areas outside the dungeon that were otherwise inaccessible. Being a Zelda game, if you ever wanted to restore the temple to a level state you could call on the help of some sort of earth-dwelling creature. Maybe it could be a Mogma, as introduced in Skyward Sword.

Plus, the boss battle for the dungeon could make good use of the lean mechanic as well. Perhaps rather than being in a separate room, you need to fight the boss in the main room of the dungeon, and leaning the whole thing could play a part in the battle.