OoX Update - Another Game Completed.

It has been YEARS. But finally, FINALLY, I finished Oracle of Seasons.

I'm not very fond of that game. It wasn't bad -- I really don't think it's possible for a Zelda game to be bad -- but something about it just didn't appeal to me.

Usually Zelda games have some kind of story progression in between dungeons that breaks everything up, but this game didn't really have that, so it ended up feeling very formulaic and repetitive. Link's Awakening, which, as you know, is one of my favorite games, really did this well; there were beautiful, realistic, memorable main and side characters, there were what passed for cutscenes back in the day in between every dungeon... everything was paced so wonderfully. In Oracle of Seasons... Were there any side characters? Or main characters besides Link? I guess you could say there's Din and Impa as well but they're not there for very long... And Onox is the most boring villain ever. He's generic, he's bland, he's boring, and there is absolutely nothing memorable about him except for the fact that he turns into a giant freaking dragon which was surprisingly fun to fight. I'll probably talk about him later.

The gameplay was... okay, I guess. It was pretty much just Link's Awakening. I don't remember anything TERRIBLY innovative about it... except for the Magnetic Gloves, which were SO MUCH FUN. They were definitely my favorite item from the game and probably among one of my favorites in the series. Those would be very entertaining in a 3D environment. Twilight Princess gave us a taste of that in the Goron Mines with teh Iron Boots, but I think it could be taken to the level that Oracle of Seasons used it. There was also this moment in the game where the walls were closing in on you and you had to run as fast as you can with a Pegasus Seed to get to the other side before they crushed you. I thought THAT was cool, too. We should see more Indiana Jones-style stuff like that in Zelda, haha! ...Other than that though, there was nothing special. Now, of course, I played this in EXTREMELY fragmented bits and pieces, so perhaps I'm just not remembering the cool parts. Maybe after a replay I'll enjoy it more. But for now... it's at the bottom of my favorite Zelda games list.

Oracle of Ages on the other hand... So far, it's done everything RIGHT.

We've got Ralph, who already has more personality than the entire cast of Oracle of Seasons, who's fun and entertaining. ...Although he makes no sense. In my most recent session, just the other day,  I was speaking with some man who said he wanted to make the Flippers, and when I exited his house, which, keep in mind, was around a corner and over a broken bridge away from the regular path, Ralph just waltz up there. He says something like, "Hey, Link, what's up? ...Oh, that guy? Yeah, I think I saw his grave in the present time. Anyway, I'm busy, so bye!"

What?

He says he's busy, yet he came up to ME, while I was coming out of a WAY out of place house. He seemed to have no idea what I was doing there, but he has just the information that I need before he has to rush away to attend to more important matters. ...And what kind of matters does he even have in he PAST? Shouldn't he have been off trying to save Nayru like I am rather than wandering around Labrynna aimlessly and nonchalantly pretending that meeting you was a total coincidence and he's "busy" when he makes a wrong turn?

What the heck, Ralph? Or should I say Mr. Plot Device?

...Anyway, uh... Ages really does do the character thing right. I swear. Ralph just had a... moment. Let me talk about Veran. Veran is amazing. I love Veran. I've always loved Veran, even before I played the game. She IS the first and only female Zelda villain in history, after all. ...No, the Twinrova don't count. And her ability to possess people really makes the game interesting. Possessing Nayru and using her to wreak havoc in the past is FAR cooler than "Me Onox. Me kidnap damsel in distress Din. You save her at my dark evil palace." And from what I've heard about the rest of the plot of Ages, it gets more and more interesting. Seasons' plot never changed. Ever. Eveeer. Your goal the whole game was to get to the next dungeon. The only thing in between that was getting to Subrosia -- which was kind of fun.

But still. Like, there's this part in Ages where you have to get to the next dungeon -- but when you try to in the present, you instead gracefully tear the entire place down. Excellent job. FORTUNATELY, it's probably hopefully still there in the past. So you go to the past -- but the entrance is blocked! However, the queen is offering a special item to those who bring her Mystery Seeds. So Link finds some Mystery Seeds and brings them to the queen -- who, as it turns out, is just being manipulated by Veran, who wants the Mystery Seeds for some unknown reason. You find out the reason later, of course. The queen gives you bombs as a reward, which you can use to access the dungeon. This is excellent. This is worldbuilding, foreshadowing... everything.

I'm out of time for tonight, but this is not the end of my Oracle tales. Oh no. Certainly not. I've got lots to say. I've also got a fun... review-type post planned, so be on the lookout for that.

Last day of the month post at 11:59 PM... out again!

EDIT: Yeah, my blog has the frustrating tendency to publish posts when I STARTED writing them, not when I actually published them... But hey, the fact that this originally showed up on March 18th proves to you that I actually DO attempt to write blog posts during the rest of the month and don't COMPLETELY procrastinate. ...Key word is "attempt".

This is sad.

I have no excuse. I seriously forgot.

And I really, really can't post anything right now. Ugggh. I'm so mad at myself right now. I have to get up really early tomorrow morning, so I can't write this...

Plus, all I can say is that the Oracle games came out on the eShop... when was it? Yesterday? Today? I THINK it was yesterday. But I already have them on GameBoy Color, so... I don't have a point to buying them. (Except I really, really want to! They would have a backlight! My GBA doesn't have a backlight, so it's hard to play at night...)

Oh, and E3's kind of coming up soon... SSB and The Wind Waker HD and Zelda 3DS and maaaaybe some Zelda Wii U if we're super duper lucky...

Well, I'm sorry, guys. I really have to go. I can't write anymore. I still have lots to do before sleeping, and it's eleven right now.

Right now, I am making a full promise to you to write a post later this week. I am swearing it, right now. I'm not sure when, but it WILL happen. Before E3, hopefully. Because I'll probably make some posts on that. It's sure to be better than last year, which I concluded was boring. Even if Nintendo's not holding an official press conference this year.

Gods. I can't believe this even happened.

I'm really sorry! Goodnight everyone... See you later this week.

Let's just pretend I fell off the face of Skyloft for a month.

I, um... I have no idea what to say for this post.

You see, the only reason I'm posting today is because, while looking through old entries, I realized that ever since September 2009, I've posted at least once every month. I can't allow that tradition to end now!

Oh, well, I can say that I got Oracle of Seasons. If I hadn't gone and lost Oracle of Ages, I'd have every game in the series. D:

Funny. Writing this post just reminded me that there's something very important due on March 1st. Which is tomorrow. Dang it. And now I have to do it all in one night! Stupid procrastination! Why can't I get rid of you?!?! Uh... I'll TRY to get back on later. I mean, tomorrow. Or next week. Next month? Yes. That's right. Next month. I have to post on my TToSW blog soon, anyway. I never did announce winners for that contest. O_o But, hey, guess what, guys? Fans of my Wizard101 fanfic will be happy to know that I have actually put all typing of my Zelda fics on hold until I complete The Tale of Sierra WinterBreeze. Knowing me, you'd expect that promise to be broken in a few hours, but miraculously, I've held out all week. I'm almost done with the story. :D Unfortunately, if there's any silent readers out there who like Awakening or Shards of Time (though WHY so many people like SoT, I will never fathom) then this is bad news. No updates for a good couple weeks. Sorry.

...I swear I'll get another post up soon. This almost feels like cheating. Seriously, can I really say I have a post every month if this post has nothing to do with the topic of "Zelda"? XD

(NOTE: All typos are officially blamed on my iPad.)

x gasps x TWO NEW ZELDA GAMES IN ONE DAY?!?!

My first new Zelda game: Oracle of Ages. It shouldn't come as a surprise, since I've been talking about it. Lol, sorry, Lucas, I didn't get your suggestion about Seasons first until AFTER I downloaded it. O.o Oh, well. It was fun.

This second one... well, it probably might be a slightly unexpected. But it's probably my favorite game EVER now. Almost as good as Wind Waker (well, it's so much like it anyway - gosh, the voice actors are even the same, and Link sounds EXACTLY like on WW). Plus, we've wanted it forever... especially after we read the manga. Can you guess what it is yet? It's... FOUR SWORDS ADVENTURES! :D

Like I said above: Rowan and I have been waiting for Four Swords Adventures!! In fact, if it weren't for the stupid DS replacing GameBoy (and DSi... which keeps deleting this post - this is my third time writing it!), FSA would have been... our SECOND ZELDA GAME EVER. As in... before now. Before VBA (OoA and LA) and A Link to the Past. Before Spirit Tracks. Before Majora's Mask - even Ocarina of Time! Before Twilight Princess... Heck, it was before Phantom Hourglass! Just so you know... I just named every Zelda game I have (kinda) in the order I received them backwards. Except for two: Wind Waker and Four Swords Adventures.

So, after we beat Wind Waker (over four years ago... gosh, it's really been that long? O.o), we reeaaly wanted another game (hopefully one without the idiot boat). Now, at this point, we were totally into multiplayer games (unlike now, when playing by myself is much more entertaining). Super Smash Bros. Melee was our favorite. So, why don't we get a multiplayer Zelda game? We had brand new shiny DS's, so we hoped they would work like the GameBoys.

But they don't. DS Lites don't connect with the GameCube. We went all the way to the store, found the game, counted out all the money we needed for it... then found out DS wouldn't work with it. So we didn't buy it. We ended up with Phantom Hourglass instead, Twilight Princess later, OoT, MM, ST, LttP... and so on.

Now... I FINALLY HAVE IT!

I'll make a new entry as an update... either today or tomorrow. I try not to do two posts per day, though. But I need two separate updates for OoA and FSA. I only took two pictures of OoA, btw. One of an awesome monkey who looks a lot like the ones from MM, and then one of Impa saying, "You have a (triangle) on your left hand!" I put triangle in quotation marks because apparently they can't even bother to spell out the word and just put a picture of a triangle instead. Sheesh.

I'll sum up the updates really quick:

OoA: I found monkeys that spontaneously started disappearing when my sister yelled at them, couldn't get into Nayru because the stupid animals wouldn't move, a bear found his biggest fan, I met a tree that wanted to marry Link (ANOTHER Princess Ruto...), randomly got teleported into the present from the past without a Harp of Ages OR a portal (Idk what happened there!), found a hand in a hole (and I THINK I found what the toilets of the past look like O.o), and... a LOT of other stuff! xD

FSA: Well, I've saved three maidens already! Blue, Yellow, and Green. Btw, why is the GREEN maiden in a fire temple? I thought I was going to save the red one! And I met Epona and her clones. And Red went off on many little adventures, until I accidentally ditched him as Vio. And I found out how different this is from all the other games... and how it's an awesome combination of LttP and WW (did I already mention that?)! Oh, and Tingle iss EEEVVVIL! I HATE him! Oh wait, I hate him anyway. Whatever. O.o

LA Update - Roc's Feather? Well, I'd prefer a cape, but...

When I saw Sydney JadeHammer, one of my best friends and fellow Zelda/Poke fans, yesterday, I could not help but tell her about my adventures in Link's Awakening. I went into excrutiating detail (okay, perhaps not) how I geniusly figured out how to get the Magic Powder (sure, it took nearly an HOUR, but...) and saved Tarin. Then I told her about the first dungeon, and, of course, my first item (which I failed at getting the first time). What's the first items? It's called Roc's Feather, and it lets you JUMP (on top of Goombas, too :P)!

When I got to this point, Sydney, who is an enormous Minish Cap fan (she adores Minish Link for some reason, and I don't even have the game, though she does xD), said, "Oh, Roc's Cape?"

Me: "Uh, no. FEATHER, Sydney. Get it right! Roc's FEATHER."

"On Minish Cap, there's Roc's Cape. I'm guessing it's the same thing. Roc's Feather lets you fly, right?"

"Wait... FLY?"

She told me about this awesome Minish Cap item that apparently lets you fly. All I got is this stupid feather that lets you jump just a LITTLE. O.o

Anyway.

I'm downloading an Oracle game now! Yeah, I know. I haven't beat Link's Awakening yet, but... I can't help it. :P I don't know which one, though. I want Seasons first to see how alike the manga is when you play Seasons then Ages, but I'd also like to see the differences when you play Ages then Seasons... if that made sense. I'm even confusing myself. -.-

I'll probably get Ages, though. Rowan wants Ages. And I want to see if Raven is actually in there.


OOH! Btw, about the update, I beat the first boss. Here's a picture of him. :P



He was HARD to beat. It gave me MAJOR deja vu to the third boss of LttP... what's his name again? Oh well. They're almost IDENTICAL! It was kind of depressing, since I hated that boss. And I hated this one. Took me FOREVER to keep from falling off the sides of the room. -.-

Now I'm in the second dungeon (after becoming an assassin! That part was TOTALLY my favorite!), and I just got the Power Bracelets. I'm missing the nightmare key... so I'm not sure what to do...