And now the game begins for real

August 24, 2009 at 9:13 pm (Ocarina of Time)
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I left the forest, got the ocarina and made my way to Hyrule Castle. I had to spend a night out of doors fighting off skeletons, but it was all good. Once the sun rose, I made my way through town to the castle. I’m still in familiar territory, so it took me very little time to find out how to sneak inside.

I met Zelda, heard her dream story, then met Impa and was led out of town again. Next, I head straight to Kakariko Village. I talked to a few people, rounded up a few chickens and let a skulltula cry on my shoulder. More tomorrow . . .

Time played: 45 minutes

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I’m some sort of game retard

August 21, 2009 at 9:03 pm (Ocarina of Time)
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I was stuck in the bowels of the Great Deku Tree for about 30 minutes. I must be retarded. For some reason, I knew to climb to the top of the tree and jump with sword extended through the web, but I didn’t think to go in any of the rooms on the second or third floors. As a result, I was walking around the basement, trying to figure out what to do.

After looking at the map, I realized there were multiple rooms I hadn’t explored. This is where I got the slingshot, and the rest was fairly easy.

I think having played through this game’s beginning before puts me at some weird disadvantage. I remember and pursue the bigger puzzles, leaving the obvious things forgotten. Thankfully I haven’t played this game very far before, so this will dissipate shortly.

In short, I got the slingshot, beat the boss and was given Hyrule’s back story before watching the Great Deku Tree die. Next, onto Hyrule to find the princess.

Time played: 1 hour 30 minutes

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Off to a solid start

August 19, 2009 at 8:49 pm (Ocarina of Time)
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I love the beginnings of games. The story and characters are introduced. You get some nice cut scenes and usually a lot of dialog. It pulls you into the game and makes you want to play to unravel the story. Ocarina of Time is no exception.

I like how the game subtly nudges you in the right direction, while still leaving it fairly open-ended as to how you approach it. For example, you start off with the mission of visiting the Deku Tree. The map makes that task pretty easy, but then you run into Mido who says you need a sword and shield first. Great, but where do you get that? The shield is easily obtained for 40 rupees at the town shop. The sword takes a little more digging.

As usual, my intuition is not to be trusted. I quickly found the Training Grounds, but passed them by reasoning that I shouldn’t go there until I had a sword. I mean, it was the training grounds for using your sword, right? I explored the village and then I wandered around the Lost Woods for a while, making no progress. As a last resort, I went back to the training grounds, shimmied by butt through a tunnel and found the sword. Success!

It's a me, tree-Mario!

It's a me, tree-Mario!

Next, I made my way to the Deku Tree, where he set up the story a bit more. I couldn’t help but noticing his Mario-esque mustache. I also found it odd that he wanted me to enter his mouth. Must be a tree thing.

I entered, got some Deku Sticks and Deku Nuts., found the map, then called it a day. I look forward to returning tomorrow.

Time played: 1 hour 15 minutes

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On to a new adventure

August 19, 2009 at 7:56 am (Link's Awakening)
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Before I begin this post, I should explain the title of the previous post. That’s what the message is when you get the magic rod. This game has an odd sense of humor, to be sure.

Anyways, I beat Link’s Awakening. I slept on the problem and came up with a solution this morning. I had to try it even before breakfast. There is a library in the main village and I remember one of the book’s mentioning the Wind Fish Egg. Sure enough, it contained the directions for the maze. I won’t spoil it here, but let’s just say you’d never guess it on your own.

After finishing the maze, you jump into a pit and face six consecutive bosses. None were that hard, but for the first one I couldn’t cause any damage. The only item I didn’t have equipped was magic powder, so I had to leave and get some. Sure enough, that was what was needed for him. After that I made short work of the six bosses and watched the ending sequence. Oddly, when it’s done and credits finish, you just get a screen that says “The End”. You can’t go past it or restart or anything, so I just turned it off then back on. When I restarted it had me at my last save point. Guess there’s no master quest.

Next game will be Ocarina of Time. I’m going to play it on the Wii Virtual Console. I’m really looking forward to this one. I once owned it, but only played it for maybe 5 – 6 hours, so there’s a lot I haven’t seen.

Time played: 30 minutes

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Burn, baby, burn

August 18, 2009 at 10:55 pm (Link's Awakening)
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I’m tired, so I’ll keep this brief and to the point. I beat the 8th palace and got the final instrument. As usual, puzzles were plentiful. It’s interesting how they manage to add new types of puzzles to each level.

In the Turtle palace, they had puzzles involving remote control bridges, ice blocks and some really cool navigation. On top of that, there were several mini-bosses, though none were especially challenging. I picked up the magic rod in this palace, so I can now melt ice and light lamps.

On to the Fish Egg . . . Thankfully, it’s right nearby. However upon entering, I’m immediately stumped. It feels like a maze level, similar to the forest in Legend of Zelda. It seemingly repeats infinitely in every direction except down. I’ve tried various patterns, but none seem to work. I’ll approach it with a fresh mind tomorrow.

Time played: 90 minutes

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The organ of evening calm

August 16, 2009 at 8:30 am (Link's Awakening)
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No, I’m not making that one up. That’s the name of the instrument you get after completing the seventh palace. Maybe I’m juvenile, but it made me chuckle just a little.

I have mixed feelings about this level. For starters, it’s big. Four floors and lots of rooms. At the beginning you just feel like you’re aimlessly wandering around with no real sense of where you are going or where you have been.

After a while, you learn the room navigation and then focus on getting to the rooms you can’t get to, or parts of the room that are inaccessible. This is where the level gets really fun, and maybe a little frustrating.

There was one puzzle in particular that was truly ingenious. I won’t spoil it here, but on its face it looked like a typical block-pushing puzzle, but turned out to me much more. My only complaint is that after going through all the effort of solving it, all I got was some bombs. It was not a critical piece of the level.

The boss battle took place outdoors on top of a pillar. You fight a giant bird that has three or four types of attacks. One of the attacks is to flap its wings hard and try to knock you off the pillar. It doesn’t cause you to lose any damage and you can easily climb back up, so I didn’t worry about it too much. Then after fighting it for 10 minutes, I realized that every time you got knocked down, it basically reset the boss’ health. Then I took a different approach, and managed to beat it quickly.

Only one level left. As much as I have enjoyed this game, I look forward to moving on to the next one.

Time played: 2 hours

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Stumbling upon the obvious

July 11, 2009 at 4:41 pm (Link's Awakening)
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I finally found the blasted rooster. I thought I had tried pushing the weathervane statue before, but apparently not. Once below, I used the third song to awaken it. Next, I made my way back to the cave with the Eagle key.

Using the rooster, I was able to get the key. Then I went and unlocked the Eagle Tower, level 7. I’ve found the map and explored about two thirds of the level.

I should be able to wrap it up during my next session.

Time played: 30 minutes

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Never thought I’d be so happy to play the triangle

July 5, 2009 at 10:08 pm (A Link to the Past)
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I finished the sixth palace today. I had been stumped on this one, which is probably why I haven’t been playing much. Oh, and the fact that I couldn’t find my GBA SP had some bearing as well. I found it this weekend, so I resumed my quest.

In about 30 minutes I had completed the palace. It’s interesting to let a game sit for a while and come back to it with a fresh perspective. So many times that has been all I needed to overcome a roadblock. In this palace I got some “red medicine,” but it’s not in my item area so I can’t equip and use it directly. I’m not quite sure what it does.

I have already located the seventh palace, Eagle Tower, and the key to gain entrance, but I can’t figure out how to get the key. As odd as this sounds, I think it involves flying chickens. Several characters have dropped hints about the Weathercock statue and flying chickens, but I haven’t been able to figure out what I should be doing. The key is on the other side of a chasm that can be jumped over and I can’t use the hookshot. My only hope is a flying chicken.

Time played: 1 hour

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Face shrine

May 18, 2009 at 8:08 pm (Link's Awakening)
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I navigated through Signpost Maze and was rewarded with a third song for my ocarina. It supposedly brings dead things to life, but I haven’t found a use for it yet. On a side note, the maze is extremely frustrating until you realize there is a pattern. It probably took me about 15 minutes to see the pattern emerge.

I then found the entrance to the sixth palace, the Face Shrine. I have the map and found the L-2 bracelet which let’s me lift even larger objects. I even got the stone beak and the owl’s hint, but I can’t progress any further. My GBA needs a charge, so I’m going to stop here for the night.

Time played: 1 hour

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Mister snakey defeated

May 16, 2009 at 7:44 pm (Link's Awakening)
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The fifth palace was enjoyable. It was apparent that the item I needed was the hook shot. Just about every treasure chest was only accessible via hook shot, and I didn’t have it yet. The mini boss was a skeleton that you had to first hit with the sword, then injure with a bomb, very reminiscent of A Link to the Past. I beat him, but then he moved to another room. I found him again, and he moved again. I repeated this four times, and I finally got the hook shot as a result.

From that point forward, it wasn’t too hard to finish the palace. There was another mini boss, two spiders that required the hook shot as a weapon to defeat them. The final boss was a snake. It was easy to avoid damage, but the snake’s head would pop out of one of the four caves. As soon as it did, you had to latch on with the hook shot to draw it out, and then attack with the sword. Not very hard at all, beat it on my first try and I think I only had 3 or 4 hearts.

After this palace I did some more exploring. There was more item swaps. I swapped a broom for a fishing hook, the fishing hook for a necklace, and the necklace for a mermaid’s scale. Keep in mind, the people I exchanged with were all over the place. One guy was hiding under a bridge. I have no idea what to do with the mermaid’s scale. I’m sure I’ll trade it again for some other item.

Time played: 1 hour

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