Skyward Sword - Hylia is a terrible strategist.

Lately I've realized some things about myself and my preference for games. I only care about story, storytelling, and atmosphere. Gameplay only bugs me if it gets in the way of these factors. That's why I enjoy games like The Legend of Zelda -- a series that gets a lot of its identity from its unique atmosphere. Its stories may not be the most complex and realistic, but they are always interesting, fun, and draw you into the world.

As you probably know if you read this blog frequently, my favorite games as of late have been Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening, and Skyward Sword. If you take into consideration what I just said above, this makes complete sense. At only four main dungeons, Majora's Mask is almost driven by nothing BUT story -- its sidequests, characters, and DEFINITELY the atmosphere are the main points of the game. Link's Awakening is the same; its gameplay did very little that was revolutionary, but in regards to not just story, but storytelling, it took a step up. A Link to the Past brought the story of the series to the next level, but Link's Awakening was where they really discovered how to tell it -- with entertaining, unique characters, foreshadowing, a fascinating plot twist, a lighthearted mood with a sad ending, and an incredible emphasis on music to match it.

Skyward Sword, I think, is much the same as Link's Awakening. It stepped up the storytelling to a whole new level. Twilight Princess started doing this, but Skyward Sword brought in even MORE cinematic cutscenes, small twists, and lovable characters. And then on top of it all, you had this grand, widespread story, dealing with new races and a sky city and gods and wishing on the whole dang Triforce as we hadn't done since A Link to the Past. It truly fascinated me. That tragic scene in the middle of the game -- you'll know EXACTLY what I'm talking about if you've played it -- and everything else just made it rise to the top of my favorites. Not to mention the motion controls, which I rather liked despite everyone else's protests. It brought a whole new sense of immersion.

I adored Zelda's character so much that I decided to write a fanfiction called Awakening based on her adventures. And it is here when I suddenly realized just how messed up Skyward Sword's plot ACTUALLY is.

Let's refer to our handy dandy Text Dump. This is how Zelda described the game's backstory to Link halfway through the game:

I think it's time you learned the whole story. Let me try to explain...

The old gods created a supreme power that gave anyone who possessed it the ability to shape reality and fulfill any desire. They called it the Triforce. In his thirst to make the world his own, Demise readied a massive army of monsters for war. He sought to take the Triforce for himself by force. The goddess feared for her people. She used her power to send both them and the Triforce into the sky on a slice of earth she cut away from the land. This floating rock became the new home of our people. In time, it came to be known as Skyloft.

After a long and fierce battle, the goddess, Hylia, succeeded in sealing away Demise.However, soon after the demon king was imprisoned, it became clear that the seal would not hold long against his fearsome power. Hylia had suffered grave injuries in her battle with the demon king. She knew that if he broke free again, there would be no stopping him.

And if the demon king were to free himself, it would mean the end of the world for all beings of this land.

In order to put an end to the demon king, Hylia devised two separate plans and set them both into motion.

First, she created Fi. She made the spirit that resides in your sword to serve a single purpose: to assist her chosen hero on his mission. Her second plan...was to abandon her divine form and transfer her soul to the body of a mortal....

She made this sacrifice, as you have likely guessed, so that the supreme power created by the old gods could one day be used. For while the supreme power of the Triforce was created by gods, all of its power can never be wielded by one.

Knowing this power was her last and only hope, the goddess gave up her divine powers and her immortal form.

Hyrule Historia gives us a similar tale.

Page 71: "In an attempt to destroy Demise, the goddess Hylia tried to use the power of the Triforce. However, a goddess cannot wield its power. Thus, the goddess Hylia decided to renounce her divinity and be reborn as a human."

Okay, so we get it. We know that Hylia was entrusted with the Triforce by the Golden Goddesses, but Demise battled her for it. After sealing Demise away, Hylia sacrificed her own immortality so that she could use the Triforce to wish him away.

Let's repeat that.

Hylia sacrificed her immortality... so that she could use the Triforce.

And what does Zelda tell Link riiiight after that explanation she provided above?

You learned wisdom from solving devious puzzles and traps. You gained power by honing and tempering both yourself and your sword. And by overcoming the trials set before you by the goddess, you've found true courage.

Now that those qualities reside in you, you are worthy of wielding the power the old gods left behind for our kind. You can claim the Triforce.

So Zelda, tell me again... Hylia's plan was to sacrifice her immortality so that she could use the Triforce... and then have the Chosen Hero use the Triforce?

What the heck?

This is a glaring plot hole. It makes no sense. She is flat out contradicting herself here -- there's no getting around that. Hylia plans to use the Triforce -- both the game and Hyrule Historia EXPLICITLY tell us this -- but then Link just uses it.

Goddess, please tell me, if Link was just going to use the Triforce, why in Din's name did you sacrifice your immortality?

And to be completely clear, in case you have any doubts, she DID plan this. Trust me -- I've considered every scenario to get around this in my fanfic. It wasn't just the goddess planning to use the Triforce, and then discovering that she couldn't because she didn't have the right qualities; she says she planned it. She tells Link that only those with "an unbreakable spirit... can wield its might," and then soon after says "...the goddess, Hylia, needed someone with an unbreakable spirit. That someone is you, [Link]."

And there we go. She flat out admits that Hylia needed -- past tense, NEEDED -- someone with an unbreakable spirit. And the only logical reason she would need someone like that is so that someone else could use the Triforce.

So why why, why, why, WHY did she sacrifice her immortality?

Because her original purpose seems to have been hijacked by Link, Zelda's role in the game as the reincarnation of the goddess is to head to these springs, regain her memories from her immortal life, and then go back in time to keep the seal on Demise up and running. That's great and all -- it obviously works out in the end -- but there was no reason for her to be a mortal in the first place. Hylia could have just as easily put her plans for the Chosen Hero into motion without the Spirit Maiden Zelda ever coming into play. Hylia, as an immortal, would never have needed any of that stupid time travel stuff in order to maintain the seal -- which, by the way, screws up the plot just as much. I'll get to that eventually -- AND she could have remained a goddess, who I think has a WAY better chance of defending the world from a returning Demon King than fragile little Zelda does.

Now, I suppose you could argue that maybe Link needed motivation. Obviously, in the game, the reason he starts off on this quest is to find Zelda. But there are so, so many other ways that this could've been done. I'm not a goddess nor do I understand the logic in this Zelda world where goddesses sacrifice their immortality for no reason whatsoever -- but I can personally think of several far more sensical and less speculative ways to start Link on his journey. First of all -- Zelda getting sent to the Surface at that time was, as far as we can tell, never part of Hylia's plan. Obviously she was supposed to go there eventually, but it is pretty clear that the tornado that sweeps her away is Ghirahim's work. Therefore, it's evident that Fi would have gone and fetched Link at one point or another, regardless of Zelda being sent away. Maybe Link would have been reluctant to go, you say? Well, the goddess could have easily captured ANOTHER of Link's childhood friends to use as motivation if she was really THAT concerned. Though she probably needs a better hero if she can't trust him with something like that.

So, Hylia. Your plan is terrible. I never even noticed this the first time through -- it all made sense to me. But the moment I started analyzing it, I spotted this peculiarity and became very frustrated trying to get around it in my story. Well, maybe the goddess lost so much power that she HAD to become a mortal, right? Or... maybe her sacrificing her immortality was a backup plan in case Link failed, or vice versa. Maybe she was being like that stupid rip-off Hylia in the manga who sacrificed her immortality just so that she could be on the same level as a guy she literally met 19 pages ago. (Gods, I hate the Skyward Sword manga. I should write a post just on that next.) I really don't know.

My favorite part is how she says that she made Fi to help the Chosen Hero on his mission but never specifies what it is. She says that Link's supposed to be the one to stand up against Demise -- but why did she even think she needed a Hero in the first place? She was supposed to wish Demise away with her newfound mortality! She needed no hero to beat him down if she could destroy him with a thought. Besides, what in her absolutely insane self-sacrificing goddessly mind made her think, "Oh, and even though I'm becoming a human and happen to have an army of humans and Sheikah and plenty of other races, I should probably get another human way in the future to help me out"?

No. Just no, Skyward Sword. I love you, I love your storytelling, but your plot is absolutely NOTHING when the MAIN REASON for the entire game even happening makes no sense.

And I haven't even gotten to the time travel yet.

I think Skyward Sword actually has more time travel in it than the games named after time, Oracle of Ages and Ocarina of Time. Sounds pretty cool, right? Time travel was very interesting in those two games and allowed for both some fun plot points -- and Majora's Mask was Time Travel Central, right? The series has had plenty of experience with this. Surely they couldn't screw it up...

Oh, but they did. With Skyward Sword, you can bet your Beetle they found a way to mess with the plot's coherency even more.

Our first interaction with time travel is when Zelda uses the Gate of Time at the Temple of Time to go back in time to the point right after Hylia seals Demise. Then there's another Gate of Time later that Link unlocks at the Sealed Temple, which goes back to the same moment somehow. We already explained that that was completely pointless since, you know, the goddess could have just sealed herself and not had to have added this confusingly stupid time travel to the mix, but... whatever. Aside from that, I suppose it makes sense. It's going back and forth between two single points in the timeline. That's fair enough, I suppose.

But... What about Impa?

Just... Just Impa. In general. Impa ruins EVERYTHING this game ever tried to do with time.

As you know if you have completed the game, the woman at the Sealed Grounds is actually Impa when she grows old. As a result... she must know everything that's going to happen. It's highly unlikely that she suffered some kind of memory loss; not only does she still have Zelda's bracelet that our friendly-but-stupid goddess reincarnated gave her in the past, but she implies many times that she knows exactly what's going on. Now, I could complain about how she was just a jerk and didn't bother telling anyone about all the twists in the game -- for example, she could have warned someone that Zelda would be captured by Bokoblins when trying to reach the Earth Temple, or that Ghirahim was going to show up and ruin everyone's happy reunion after Zelda awoke. But maybe she just didn't want to mess with how the events had really happened as she remembered, you know? Maybe she was afraid that informing them of something they didn't know the first time would change the future for the worse.

But, when you consider that time travel stuff I told you about... things get extremely confusing.

At the end of the game, Link wishes Demise away in the present, and then goes back in time and kills him in the past. Then he returns to the present.

Impa must remember all of this. Therefore, when the younger Impa, who was present at Demise's defeat in the past, grows older... She must remember Demise dying, right?

So why would there ever be any need for him to be killed again?

Older Impa remembers Demise dying. She remembers Demise being wished away. She remembers him being eradicated from the world. But Demise... has apparently respawned or something?

Or... Maybe Impa is just stuck in some kind of weird segregated time loop that makes Demise's death be reset every time, allowing her to remember everything even though it happens over and over. She stays in this loop at the command of the goddess -- who, might I add, is quite often referred to as being in a place "at the edge of time" -- in order to guide the Spirit Maiden and the Hero on their (pointless) mission. And perhaps the reason that Impa disappears for absolutely no reason at the end if the game is implying that she's going back to guide the heroes because the loop is resetting, and the future has now changed. She can no longer exist in a timeline with memories of Demise being alive in the present, because that's no longer what the truth of that universe is.

I just came up with that now and I kind of like it. I like how it explains Impa's random disappearance. (...Seriously, why did she just poof into dust with no explanation?)

Of course, that doesn't change the fact that Hylia's poor planning made this game COMPLETELY AND NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED. And all of Hyrule lost its goddess as a result. Excellent work, Hylia.

If you're still interested in how incredibly terrible Skyward Sword's time travel system is, I suggest you check out TheJWittz's video on Zelda time travel. Watching that video was what really inspired me to make this, and I borrowed a lot of his ideas for the second half of this post. Before I saw it I had already realized that a huge paradox was created by slaying Demise first in the future and then in the past, but that was when it really dawned on me exactly how incredibly paradoxical this time travel was. ...In fact, it's hardly even paradoxical. It's just... illogical.

Just like everything else in this game, apparently.

That's all I have for today, everyone! I'm going to repeat again that I love Skyward Sword. I love its characters, I love its cinematic cutscenes, and I LOVE its storytelling. Despite the numerous holes in its plot, I found myself completely enraptured with the game from start to finish and never noticed anything wrong with it until I thought about it. That's the sign of a good game.

This post is good news to my regular readers -- I started this early, so I didn't have to rush to get it finished by tonight. This is a genuine post, with real effort this time, ladies and gentleman. That fact alone actually makes me so proud I can almost ignore that it's on the last day of the month again.

Have a good May! See you on the 31st!

Happy Birthday, Skyward Sword!

This... is incredible.

I can't believe it, but it's true. Somehow, a year has passed, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is officially one year old. Here in the U.S. we've still got two days to go, but this is the date it was released in Europe.

Wow. It doesn't feel like a year. Not at all.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to really celebrate its birthday, since my family plans on heading to some festival thing. And this morning I've spent SS's birthday browsing Zelda Dungeon and playing Link's Awakening, so yeah. But hopefully I can celebrate it on the twentieth, which will be the day that I, personally, have had it for a year.

It's just so unbelievable! It still feels like I was just recently pouring over websites and absorbing every little bit of pre-game info I could get before its release date. And then... completing the game is still so vivid in my mind...

If really does prove the saying, doesn't it? "Time flies when you're having fun"?

Yeah. Really. :)

Interestingly enough, in addition to Skyward Sword turning one, the Wii U comes out today. I was on the fence for a very long time over whether I should get it on launch date or not, and I finally decided against it. There really aren't any games I want to play on it yet. Besides, Club Nintendo doesn't even offer a warranty extension! What's with that? I really do want that limited edition deluxe package though... I hope limited edition isn't TOO limited...

I'll just leave it at that for now. If I end up having more time later today, I'll post some of my favorite Skyward Sword trailers and my thoughts about them. Of course, I already HAVE done that, when we were still waiting for SS... but, you know, it HAS been a year. Maybe my thoughts have changed?

Well, that's all for now. Have a great day everyone! Play some Skyward Sword or Wii U or something! ;)

Medli's Messages' Third Halloween!

SUPER HAPPY HALLOWEEN, GUYS!

If you celebrate it.

It's one of my favorite holidays, so I hope you do.

So this is Medli's Messages' Third Halloween. ...Well, technically it's the fourth, but last year I didn't really care and never posted anything about it. So this is the third Halloween POST.

Guess what, guys: this year, I was Zelda! ...Not like I was Zelda the year before last, which was essentially an old Sleeping Beauty costume with a Triforce painted on a cardboard cut-out tied in the front, but in an actually decent Zelda cosplay, custom-made by a fantastic friend of mine. I was Skyward Sword Zelda, to be specific. And, considering the amount of work she put into the costume, I think I'll probably be SS Zelda next year. And the year after that. And the year after.

It's okay, though. It was so much fun to be a character from my favorite video game series.

I'm afraid I've left my blogging to the last day of the month again, although I have excuse this time because it's Halloween. And... honestly, very little Zelda-related stuff have happened lately. That includes news and personal achievements.

In fact, the only thing I've done that's Zelda-related pretty much all month is play Adventure of Link. And knowing the reputation of that game, I'm sure you can imagine how THAT turned out.

...Okay, actually, it was pretty good. See, the nice thing about AoL is that when you accomplish something, you feel SO awesome afterward. Did I tell you that story about my erased progress earlier? Well, my 3DS somehow erased some of my progress in AoL so that I was before the second boss that I'd already pwned earlier. Fortunately, it didn't get rid of all the progress in dungeon two (I probably would have just tossed away the game and said, 'Well, I tried!' if that was the case), but it had been so long since I'd beat him that I didn't know where the boss room was anymore. I've spent quite a few times trying to find him since then (and experienced the pain of death – or rather, watching Link die – and Ganon's infuriating laughter on numerous occasions), and only yesterday did I at long last locate his room.

And what do you know? Despite having died a good five or six times initially, I beat him on my first try.

...It's because I had the Life spell, really. I didn't have that the first time through the dungeon. In fact, the way I found the spell is rather humorous; see, I wanted the spell from Saria town, and the woman there wanted her mirror. Only after I completed dungeon two did I remember the line from AoL that's randomly written in first person: "I found a mirror under the table!" So I found a room with nothing but a table in it and, lo and behold, there was a mirror and that peculiar line of dialogue showed up.

My Zelda trivia skills actually were useful for once.

...You know, I keep getting the towns Saria and Ruto mixed up. Because, you know. It's "Water Town of Saria", but Ruto's a Zora in OoT, so I think of HER being related to water and all...

...Oh my gosh. I just realized that every single one of the Sages' names end in a vowel. Weird.

In other news, I started Skyward Sword again. Um, but I think this was last month, maybe. I can't really remember when, to be honest. But it was interesting. I decided I was going to try 6 Heart Challenge in Hero Mode. I was breezing through it, and I reached Ghirahim, beat him, took my Heart Container, and then got the Tablet. Then I headed back to Skyloft and collected some Goddess Chests, but when I got in to the Lumpy Pumpkin to grab the Heart Piece there I suddenly realized:

"Wait. I have seven hearts."

I was so excited after beating Debbie that I grabbed the Heart Container and SAVED.

So I started over. But I'm stupid, so I went out of my way to collect Heart pieces and now I have three. One more and the six heart thing is ruined again. Better not forget... and save often. And check my heart count before I save.

Well, seven minutes until midnight. NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. Forgot about that. But I'm totally excited. Go look it up if you don't know what it is.

Alright, that's it! Happy Halloween!

Another Harp Video?

Why yes. This time, it's Fi's Theme/Lament from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I made another harp video! Yay! ^^ It's somewhat disappointing that not as many people are instantly attracted to it as the previous harp video, but I suppose that was to be expected. I'm just sad that I received two dislikes. I didn't get a dislike until months after Ballad of the Goddess, and now, just one day after posting, it has TWO? Ah, well. That's the internet.

Oh! Other updates? I've been considering applying for an article writer at Zelda Dungeon! ...Okay, yes, I know. I wanted to apply a LONG time ago. But I'm thinking about it again. I actually have some ideas now – initially I was going to post them on here, but perhaps I'll save them for ZD, hmm? I wanted to write a post about why I love Link's Awakening (because I really, truly do, even though I haven't played/talked about it as much as some of the others). And I was also thinking about writing "Stuff I Didn't Initally Realize in Zelda" or some title less foolish than that. You know, just a collection of funny stories. That one will probably still end up on here rather than ZD; it's more of a personal thing, anyway, than an article...

Speaking of ZD, I'm obsessed with editing the Wiki. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I love editing and writing, and that's entirely what the Wiki is comprised of. I've been staying up until two in the morning editing stuff. XD One day I hope to be a Wiki Scribe! Lately, I've been working on writing Phantom Hourglass articles. It makes me want to play Phantom Hourglass again, haha. I've been using the text dump constantly to look up stuff, since it's been so long since my last playthrough.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the video of me playing Fi's Lament! I think it's such a pretty song, although on harp some of its beauty disappears. The original had these gorgeous strings in the background, but I don't play violin, so there was no way to pull that off.

Have a nice day, everyone! (And curse Blogger – my paragraphs disappeared again. Time to try some HTML coding!)

My Skyward Sword Experience

(WARNING: This is an extremely long post filled with careless spoilers! This hardly seems necessary, considering the top of this blog already says there's unmarked spoilers... but I thought I'd mention is anyway. Enjoy!)

*gasp*

Wait! Wh-What is this? ...Two posts in the month of May? Impossible! This must be some kind of trick!

...Well, it's not. I've delved to the world of blogging yet again this month to finally write a post that, of course, you should have expected the moment I mentioned Zelda Wii. Which was March 1st, 2010, in case you don't remember.

I'm going to go into detail about my Skyward Sword experience.

E3 2012 is surprisingly close - Nintendo's presentation is June 5th, 9 AM. I'll probably be waking up early yet again this year in hopes of hearing about Super Smash Bros. 4, but it's not likely we'll have anything Zelda-related. ...But who knows?

Anyway, it's made me realize that I really should talk about Skyward Sword - it's one of my favorite Zelda games of all time. I just decided that today, when, just about an hour ago, I completed Hero Mode for the first time. Honestly, though, I can get so into this game. It's the strangest feeling; a few times I've even caught myself flinching when Link is hurt or something similarly stupid. I've also determined that the best way to play this game is in front of a huge TV with lots of space around you, standing up. It's incredibly fun and immersive.

Annnyway?

Let's start from the morning that I first received Skyward Sword - November 20th, 2011, of course. I woke up early to get to GameStop as soon as it opened. My sister and I walked into the store and headed over to the desk to pick up my preorder.

Here I am, decked out in a Zelda shirt and internally freaking out, whispering to my sister as we pass a kid walking by with Skyward Sword in his hand. "Did you see that? Oh my gods, he has the game! That is one awesome kid! He didn't get the special edition, though... oh gosh, I can't wait to get my hands on my golden Wii remote..."

So we look up at the GameStop guy, and naturally, seeing my impending fangirl freakout, he says, "You're here for Zelda?"

Vigorous nodding. "YES YES YES!"


He smiles sadly. "Oh, well, I'm sorry. You came on the wrong day. It's not coming out until tomorrow.

...

Moment of silence.

...

"B-but... B-b-but..."

...

...

And then my sister speaks up.

"But... what about all those Skyward Sword games behind you...?"

And then a grin forms on his face and he starts laughing. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just messing with you! You have a preorder?"

Yes, that's right, everyone. He, knowing that I was about to dissolve into a puddle of fangirly excitement, decided to screw with me and claim that the game I'd been waiting for two freaking years (longer if you count the amount of time that they were actually MAKING the game, though they hadn't announced it yet) wasn't coming out for another day. My mind literally froze up when he said that. I'm sure that the stupid grin that had been on my face that entire morning suddenly disappeared into a blank expression of incomprehension. Thoughts like, "But... it's November 20th! I literally counted down, day by day, until this moment! I've had this date circled since the day it was announced! Where did I go wrong? Is this a nightmare?" were running through my head.

Honestly, if my sister hadn't said anything, I probably would have stood there, frozen, for an indefinitive amount of time.

You, Mister GameStop Employee, are evil.

Oh, and just for the record? This isn't the only time people at that GameStop have messed with me. When I preordered Kid Icarus: Uprising, I asked, "So, can I preorder a game?" And the guy responds with, "No." I stared at him in confusion for a moment before finally letting out a nervous chuckle and telling him what game I wanted.

So, FINALLY, I got my copy of Skyward Sword and jumped back into the car, tearing apart the box immediately to gaze longingly at my golden Wii remote and beautiful game disk. Finally, when we arrived back home, I rushed into the back room and shoved Skyward Sword into the Wii. Then, knowing I'd be spending at least the next week or two of my life on this game, I hurried on to Club Nintendo on the computer and registered the game before allowing myself to play it. Because of my excitement, I actually have no recollection of what I wrote in those little boxes asking for your opinion on the game. I probably typed something along the lines of "OMG NINTENDO IM GONNA DIIE IF I DONT PLAY TIS GAEM NOW JKAD FJK!" Perhaps even less comprehensible than that. They probably figured some three-year-old had gotten ahold of the computer and typed something in. That, or they're used to stupid responses like that from desperate fans dying to try out the game.

At last, I strapped up my golden Wii remote, selected Skyward Sword from the Wii menu, and PLAYED.

It's... difficult to remember my first playthrough of Skyward Sword, now. After all, it was a while ago. However, to the best of my memory, it was incredibly fun.


I played the game for ten hours on my first day, getting through Skyview Temple and the Earth Temple. I could not hear much of the music, unfortunately; my father plays guitar in a band, and he needed to practice. And, of course, he had to practice in the exact same room.

The intro was mostly lost on me. I'd already watched all the way up until Link meets Fi for the first time on YouTube, because I was incredibly impatient and simply couldn't resist the temptation. Skyview I remember a bit more clearly. Why? Because I spent most of my day in there.

Okay, I'm SURE this is just me. I've watched two other people play through this part, and NEITHER of them had a problem with it. If you've played the game, you may recall the room right before the large "hub" room of the dungeon that was used in demos prior to the game's release. You know what I'm talking about? There's two rooms that branch away from it (remember the "One switch is above, one switch is below" puzzle?) where in both you must raise the water level. I did that. I figured it out pretty quickly, too.

...But for the life of me, I could NOT figure out what to do next.

Now, what you're SUPPOSED to do is climb on this convenient little log that raised along with the water and from there jump onto a vine wall.

THIS LOG. It's totally evil.

For whatever reason, I completely skipped over this log.

Instead, I walked back and forth in between these two rooms, struggling to figure out how to get to the treasure chest that I just knew was holding the key into the next area. I must have spent a half hour on it at least - two hours at most. Seriously. It was a long time.

I purchased a guide with the game, too, and I was severely tempted to use it. Eventually submitting, I skimmed over the pages a bit - and couldn't find anything. Why? Because most people aren't IDIOTS and don't MISS THE FREAKING STUPID LOG.

This is a classic example of Sierra overthinking things in Zelda games. Trust me. It happens a lot.

After that, Earth Temple was a breeze, as far as I can remember. Because, I don't. ...Remember, I mean. I don't remember the Earth Temple.

Lanayru was a bit more difficult for me. I spent three days on it. Three. Days. Ugh. I don't know what was so frustrating about it! It was also the first time I died. I allowed my sister to try the game for the very first time while I was activating the generators (or whatever you do to get into the Lanayru Mining Facility). She brought me down to two hearts, and when I frantically stole the controller from her to save myself, I died.

...So technically, that death doesn't count, since it wasn't my fault.

When I first got into the facility, I was stuck on my second seemingly insolvable puzzle. If you can even call it a puzzle. I never get stuck on actual "puzzles", just on stuff that should be obvious. LIKE THE LOG, FOR EXAMPLE... *angry muttering*

This time, however, it was a switch. ...Now, these switches appear throughout all of Skyward Sword - they're like little red bars that you had to sprint toward a wall to run up it, grab the lever, and pull it downwards. ...For some reason, I couldn't figure that out. I knew that lever had to do SOMETHING, but thanks to my oddly over-analytic mind, I was certain that the solution couldn't be a simple as running at it. Oh, no. Never.

...It took me a while to finally figure out.

The rest of Lanayru wasn't much easier for me. I remember one moment where you were supposed to use the Beetle to grab a bomb and drop it on these wooden boxes to explode them. ...I don't know why I didn't think of that at first. I kept running back and forth in between these few rooms before finally thinking, "Wait a second... I can probably explode those!" And then, in true facepalm fashion, I tried it, it worked, and my head met my hand.

At least it was better than the wave of complete and utter humiliation and underlying rage like, oh, I don't know... maybe...

THAT STUPID LOG!!!

...And... then I fought Moldarach - which was actually the first Skyward Sword boss we saw, at E3 2010. Remember that? I do, haha. Now, let me just say that Moldarach looked a lot easier in the demos than it actually was. Plus, during the second phase of the battle added after the demos, you had to find it in the sand, and that was extremely frustrating. I recently fought it in the Hero Mode Thunder Dragon's Lightning Round (with one heart, too, and it was the last boss to fight before I got the Hylian Shield; talk about pressure!), and I took ten minutes in that battle because I couldn't get it out of the sand. I don't remember my inital battle too much, though. When I fought it in Hero Mode (outside of the Lightning Round), I know I died twice, however. It insta-killed me if it managed to back up and ram into me before I could stab its eye in the second phase of the battle.


What makes it worse is that, after looking up some YouTube videos, all the comments say that it's the easiest boss. D:

Also, doesn't the post-Moldarach chamber kind of look like the Tower of Spirits from Spirit Tracks? There's train rails and everything...

(I couldn't find a picture, though. Sorry. D:)

So, after that, I watched the cutscene, which became my favorite cutscene until I met Zelda again. It's inside the Temple of Time, and Ghirahim and Impa have a somewhat epic battle. Kind of.

One of the best parts of this cutscene was being able to choose your own answers! Isn't that awesome? :D

I chose "Am I late?" which is CLEARLY the best answer. Because it's an "IN YOUR FACE, IMPA" moment, because of how she told Link off in the Earth Temple. (That's the only thing I remember about that place, after all. I really didn't like Impa after that cutscene. XD)

So, after that... what happens again...?

...I honestly don't remember. The next dungeon is Ancient Cistern, and I think you fight the Imprisoned again... by the way, I HATE the Imprisoned, soooo much...

...OH!

Silent Realm.

This was quite a terrifying experience. It was not necessarily shocking - I knew it was coming from pictures and videos before the game came out - but it was still scary.

And I was horrible at it. Horrible! So horrible, in fact, that Fi actually told me, "Master, the chances of you being the chosen hero are rapidly decreasing..."

Which kind of made me laugh, but made me dismayed at my own failure at the same time. Even the game knew I sucked.

My problem was that I thought you had to actually sprint to get away from the Guardians - which apparently isn't the case. Just running at normal speed is sufficient. However, I didn't know that, so I continuously ran out of stamina and got caught.

Plus... I couldn't find the last tear! It was on an elevated platform accesible from a vine wall. I couldn't find it for the longest time.

Oh well. After that stressful moment, we had the semi-peaceful Ancient Cistern. (If I'm remembering this correctly, of course.) Although that moment where you had to climb up the vines to escape the Zombie Bokoblins kind of freaked me out. O_o

Neeeexxxxtt...?

Well, the second Silent Realm was Nayru's, right? I think everyone has a similar story (at least, I've read them from others), but I'll tell it anyway.

There was one moment where a minecart sat in waking water, and you had to push it to get to a floating tear. However, I carelessly stepped into the water while trying to move the minecart. This awakened the Guardians and created an interesting scenario. I'd run in a circle to stay away from the Guardians, then return to the minecart, and push it slightly. Then I'd run again, return, push... and so on, until I jumped on to reach the tear. To be honest, it alleviated my fear of the Guardians quite a bit, since I evaded them for so long. It made me confident for once. ^^

And then... Sandship? Yeah. That sounds right.

Now, I loved the Sandship. Actually, scratch that. I love the Sandship. As in... present tense. When I first went through it, I actually didn't care much for it at all. But after replaying it and thinking back on it, I thought it was a lot of fun.

I got stuck a few times here, too, though. (Lanayru just doesn't seem to like me.) There's one point where you're supposed to lower or raise a life boat off to the side to hit the Timeshift Stone. I... well, it took me a while to realize that, haha.

...Not as long as that log, though.

Yes, I'm going to keep mentioning that.

Eldin Silent Realm was frustrating, if only because at some points, I felt like I HAD to awaken the Guardians. I don't like waking them up. My heart starts pounding the moment I hear that music.

I rather liked Fire Sanctuary, though! I think it was just the design of the dungeon, however. It was just kind of... temple-like. The most temple-like dungeon in the game, I think. Or perhaps it was that riddle about the two statues, and that leap of faith I had to take. I really was shocked when I didn't fall into lava.

See, at first I thought I liked it because of the music, but then I realized that I was thinking of the Earth Temple music, which is amazing. Fire Sanctuary music is boring.

One problem I encountered in this temple was... well, those water-filled plant-thingies. I DID NOT KNOW YOU COULD STAB THEM. So... imagine how long it took for me to figure out how to open the water-activated door?

These plants. I thought they were just for making lava blocks!

Fighting Debbie/Ghirahim at the end was fun, though. I heard something very odd, though, about that battle. Ghirahim states that he and Link are bound by a crimson thread of fate. And apparently, in Japan, a red thread is a symbol of two lovers.

...Was that on purpose, Nintendo? I hope not. O_o

At last, I got the last flame and forged the Master Sword. And then I returned to Sealed Grounds... to see the saddest cutscene in Zelda history.

Seriously, there's some sad stuff in Zelda. Just think about Anju and Kafei embracing one another as the moon destroys the world around them. But Link's face in this cutscene... Oh my gods...

...One still picture doesn't really cut it, though. You just have to watch it. I've NEVER seen Link look like that before in a Zelda game. I thought he was going to cry for a moment there.

If Link ever cries in a Zelda game, that's officially going to be my new favorite game. XD

Annnnnyway... and then it's on to Song of the Hero! Like I said in my last post, I went to Lanayru first (and got my Hylian Shield :D), Eldin second, and Lanayru third.These parts were pretty fun. I stumbled into the Eldin one on accident, though. It was kind of frustrating; once you activate that event, you can't get out of it without completing it. I traveled to Eldin for a sidequest: you have to fetch the fortune teller a new crystal ball. Deciding to ignore the event and just not bother getting my items back, I used dowsing to find the spot.

...BUT THERE WAS NOTHING THERE.

After a rage inducing moment, I determined that maybe the crystal ball was INSIDE the Earth Temple, though why my dowsing would lead to the SIDE of the temple, I didn't know.

...Well, as it turns out, the crystal ball is reached using the Double Clawshots, but the clawshot target doesn't appear during the Song of the Hero event. O_o So it wasn't my fault that I couldn't find it and wasted ten minutes trying to figure out what the heck was going on.


Oh, and that third Imprisoned fight before you go get Faron's part of Song of the Hero? ...Am I the only one who seriously struggled with that? After you hit him once, he starts flying up, and you have to hit him with a bomb from the Groosenator. I missed a few times. Oh, and then even WORSE after that, you have to fire Link at him. I kept missing Link, and one miss and you're done for. I must have heard the old woman in the Sealed Grounds scream, "All is lost... all is lost..." a good four times. (Which, in case you are some sort of gaming ninja and didn't know that, it's what she says when you get a game over because the Imprisoned reached the temple.)


...I think I said all of this in my last post. O_o

At last, I got the Song of the Hero and hurried to Skyloft for the Skyloft Silent Realm.

However, as I stabbed down and went into the Silent Realm challenge, I realized something.

...There were Remlits, those evil little adorable flying lemur-kitty creatures. And... if I could place them on the Silent Realm platform...

Well, this happened.

Yes, that's actual footage, filmed from my cell phone, of me stabbing the Remlit. And you can't imagine the giggles I tried to stifle while filming this. XD (I also apologize for my sister's apparent incapability at properly filming something! Not my fault! ...I think she was watching the actual screen, haha.)

So, yeah. What next?

Skyloft Silent Realm was not so terrifying now that I was used to Silent Realms, so it went by fast. After that, it was on to one of my favorite dungeons: Sky Keep! I loved this place. ^^ (And I just did it today, so I remember it well.)

If I remember correctly, I got the Triforce of Wisdom first, Triforce of Courage second, and Triforce of Power last. Now, I just wanted to point something odd out.

...Why is there Twilight Princess Hylian on the walls? In SKYWARD SWORD?!

This is in all three of the Triforce chambers. And I KNOW it's Twilight Princess. I think it doesn't read as anything - many of the characters are hard to make out, but what I did translate didn't make much sense - but it's THERE. The letters appear to be flipped on one side, futher supporting the fact that it's TP, since the letters were flipped from GameCube to Wii.

Plus, it's also on the door in the Sealed Grounds!

Anyway... maybe everyone knows about this, and I'm just a bit late in noticing it. XD

So... then it was on to the final battle! I love the cutscene right after you make your wish on the Triforce, though. Link and Zelda hold hands! And Link LAUGHS! Now, just think about it: when, in any Zelda game ever, have you seen Link laugh? I'll tell you when: never. He never laughs. He has little giggles from time to time, but never full out LAUGHTER.

And then... horde battle. Debbie. Demise.

So, when I first fought Ghirahim, I thought I was going to die. I really, truly did. And I still don't know what happened. In the end, I miraculously survived with half a heart. That's it. One. Half. XD


So, of course, I ran as fast as I could to Skyloft afterward and stocked up on two Heart ++ Potions and two fairies.

Fighting Demise... well, I actually died once. But that's just because I forgot that I only had two fairies. If I'd remembered, I could have drank my Heart Potion ++, I suppose.

But it wasn't that hard after that! I got really good at Shield Bashing. I didn't use it for most of the game, but in the final two battles with Ghirahim and Demise, it was quite useful. The lightning was a nice touch too, haha.

Also, Demise uses a lot of big words. Now, think about it. If you just heard the words "subjugate" or "paragon" or "begot" without any context to help you figure out their meaning, would you know what they meant? No. But Demise says all of that.

In the ending cutscene right afterward, Link was a jerk. Zelda begins crying... and Link just STARES at her. SMILING, even. He doesn't do anything to comfort her. Nothing. At. All. Seriously. WHO DOES THAT?!

 

...Well, that's pretty much all I have to say about Skyward Sword right now. It's quite late - I've been working on this post for a few hours, now. The only break I had was practicing harp. I will probably come back and edit this surely long, pointless post later... but for now... hope you enjoyed! :D

(If the paragraphs are glitchy, BLAME BLOGGER. IT HATES ME AND MY PARAGRAPHS.)

Thanks to YouTube - specifically, TheHiddenTriforce, Tobygames, and some guy (hypermetalsonic?) with HD cutscenes - for the pictures! ...Except for those low-quality ones, because you KNOW those are mine. :P

See? I can be honest.

I TOLD YOU I'D POST!

Now, um... I have to go practice harp. But I wanted to prove that I could do it. That I CAN keep promises. :D

I guess I'll just go over a quick update on Skyward Sword. ;) I mean, because, tonight I was playing that instead of posting here. (Whaaat? It's fun!) In Hero Mode (which I've been neglecting until recently), I just got to the part with the Song of the Hero – when you're first supposed to get the parts of the Song, at least.

Now, here's the perfect opportunity to discuss some of my SS experiences – I haven't really been able to mention anything since I got the game. The first time through on this part, I actually got the Lanayru part first. Now apparently Nintendo's telling everyone "NOOOOO YOU'LL BREAK YOUR GAME!" if you go there. ...I thank the goddesses that my game wasn't broken. XD Man, that would have ruined my whole... Thanksgiving. Because that's probably when I was playing that part through.

So this time, I decided to go to Faron first, like you're supposed to. And I fought the Imprisoned. Okay, I have to ask: am I the ONLY one who died a good four times on my first try? O_o I was completely prepared to die this time, but I actually didn't! I was so proud of myself! It's because I learned from my mistakes the last time and learned how to control the Groosenator so that Link landed on the Imprisoned's head properly. I kept missing last time, so he'd make it to the temple and the whole world was destroyed. Four times. Yay.

So I just left off the game after drowning in the flooded Faron Woods. Gods Dangit. >.< And I think I jinxed myself, too. I had already nearly drowned once, but a fairy saved me. So when I was up on land next time, I briefly looked at my potions – and I realized I didn't have another fairy. So I told my sister, "I'm going to drown now... Even a heart potion + can't save me..."

And predictably...

Well, you know. I... died.

Anyway, that's all I have time for! Have a good evening, my nonexistent readers. ^^

I just realized...

IT'S NOT ZELDA'S TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY ANYMORE!

Well... there goes the best year in Legend of Zelda history. The year that Zelda fans were showered with gifts. The year the epicness known as Skyward Sword was released. The year we got a new Zelda game, Four Swords Anniversary, for free.

...Well, at least we've still got one thing to look forward to: The Symphony of the Goddesses!
If you don't recall (or didn't watch E3 this year), it was announced in June that a symphony playing Zelda songs would go on tour in 2012.

It's now 2012, and they've announced some dates and places for us.

...AND ONE THEM IS IN MY STATE.

HOLY FREAKING HYLIA.

I'd been so concerned that they wouldn't come down here again - to the southwestern U.S., I mean. I was sure that I was doomed, and I'd missed my only chance in Los Angeles. After all, that's not too far away, but... something came up that weekend... or something like that... don't really remember... XD

And now, I just bought my ticket. I'm going. Unless some tragedy happens, I'm destined to go to this thing like Link was destined to defeat Ganon.

...Although considering the new official timeline has a third split resulting from Link's death in OoT, maybe that's not the best analogy...

You can find all the dates and times here, and tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.com. Oh, gods, I'm so excited! Hmm... maybe I should start working in my Zelda cosplay again. If I can finish it in time, I could totally wear it there. :D

I'm planning on writing a full Skyward Sword review soon, but right now I'm feeling lazy. But I really want to talk about my opinions on the game in detail, and a review is a great way to do that. Oh, and I should probably talk about Hyrule Historia soon, too...

Skyward Sword FTW

The epic Game of the Year 2011 battle is going on right now at g4tv.com!

Obviously, being the super Zelda fan girl I am, I had to vote for Skyward Sword, because after playing it nonstop the past two weeks, I'm completely in love with it. It has done all right in the first four rounds, beating big titles like Uncharted 3 and Batman Arkham City (and FIFA 12... but I'd never even heard of that :P). Now, it's against the biggest title of them all...

 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

Most people thought Skyrim would win hands down - I mean, my gods, anything that can beat Portal 2 at 74% deserves quite a bit of respect. Portal 2 was, after all, the only game that I'd been hoping to win besides Skyward Sword, but Portal was doomed before I even got to vote. So I really, REALLY want Skyward Sword to win now.

I'm not going to lie - I haven't played Skyrim, and I likely never will. It sounds incredible... and quite a bit like my kind of game, too: I love fantasy RPG's! ...But I can't stand blood. It's awesome in books, but in video games or movies, I don't like it. Sorry, Skyrim, but because of your M rating I don't want to play you.

...I know this makes me sound like some stupid ten year old that the Skyrim fans continously claim all of us Zelda fans are, but I'm not. I just prefer Legend of Zelda.

So, I'm here to ask that you vote for Zelda. For me. Or if not for me, just for the most epic Zelda game of all time. Come ON... it's Zelda's 25th anniversary! Wouldn't it be great to have it go down in history as the Game of the Year on its anniversary?

This battle is SO extremely close. Every time I check the page (which I do quite frequently) there's a different winner. The votes are probably just one or two away. Currently it's in Skyward Sword's favor (49%-51%) but that might not last. Though I know I'm not a popular website and probably the only people who will read this are those who've already voted, I will post this anyway.

I'm fully aware of how biased and fangirly I sound, but it's just my opinion. I know I'm doing everything that Skyrim fans criticize us for, but I don't care at this point. At least I'm not lowering myself to their level and bashing them when it's clearly a great game.

Please go HERE to vote. Come on, Skyward Sword! You can do it!

Skyward Sword: Happy American Release Date!!!

IT. IS. ACTUALLY. HERE.

Holy Goddesses. I'm in shock. I woke up this morning... and realized...

IT'S THE TWENTIETH!

SKYWARD SWORD COMES OUT TODAY!

...Unfortunately, GameStop doesn't open until 10. So I have a bit of time to waste. I thought I'd come and update this blog and say... what a wonderful day in Zelda history this is!

You're probably not going to hear from me for a while (not that THAT'S unusual anymore). I'm planning on spending the whole day in front of the television screen with a golden Wiimote in my hand and epic Legend of Zelda music blasting from the speakers. To say that I am ecstatic would be an understatement. I'm even beyond ebullient. Gods. I've waited for this day for two years. TWO. YEARS. ...That's pretty much how long this blog has been going for!

Man, why did it have to be a Sunday? I wanted Friday. That was the most agonizing Saturday I've ever lived through. *jealous of Europeans*

I've updated the header (as though having a bright blue blob at the top of the screen with Zelda playing the harp wasn't noticable) just for this lovely day. I'm too lazy to make a poll, so just let me know what you think in the comments.

So... I think that's pretty much it. See you guys! Enjoy Skyward Sword!

(Hey, here's something random and slightly amusing. If you look at my labels, the only game with more than Skyward Sword is Ocarina of Time, and even then it's only ONE more - 29 versus 28. And I haven't even played Skyward Sword yet.)

Skyward Sword Theme (Goddess' Song) on Harp

Guess who that is?

No, not some random person on YouTube. As a matter of fact, if you follow my blog, you know them. You are actually reading what they wrote.

...Yes. That's me.

I've mentioned that I play harp before, haven't I? Well, I've DEFINITELY mentioned I play piano (don't you recall my post of me playing TP trailer? ...No? Okay, don't blame you. That was a long time ago).

So I've gained some popularity from this video! It's at 7,216 views as of now. Since it's been a week, that's 1,000 views per day! Wow! It's only 1,000 or so views away from becoming my most popular video, beating my Wizard101 randomness video (which has been out for almost 2 years) in just a short time! Wow!

Anyway... I wanted to share that. I do realize this isn't the Skyward Sword news most people would be hoping for - or even expecting. Have you SEEN how busy Zelda Dungeon is lately? Many of the Skyward Sword reviews came out yesterday. It's doing pretty well. I think it should have gotten more perfect scores, but that's just because I'm biased. :P

I'll HOPEFULLY post some more this week - maybe I can do a lovely (yet fail) daily countdown like I did for Spirit Tracks! We'll just have to see.

Remember everyone: Eight days for Skyward Sword in the U.S.! November 20th! (And November 18th in Europe... I'm still so jealous!)

I have a new favorite video. (New Skyward Sword "Lyre" Trailer!)

So, I haven't posted in a while... and I've missed quite a lot of Skyward Sword videos. But now I've returned... WITH THIS!



AND IT IS THE BEST THING I'VE SEEN IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously. I am in love. And I think Skyward Sword is going to be my new favorite Zelda game.

...Okay, so I said that with Spirit Tracks too, but that's because I was a n00b back then. And just for the record, Spirit Tracks IS pretty good; just not my favorite.

Now let's talk about the video. Before I begin tearing it apart and pointing out the things I notice as I usually do, I'm just going to mention that I have officially received my first top-rated comment on YouTube (at least, as far as I know). And it was on this video. XD Seriously! Go to the link (haha) above, and look at the top comment! It's by me: TwilightWakerofTime! I said we shoud feed dislikers to Link's bird. Apparently people actually thought that was clever or something. It's probably not going to stay top-rated for very long... but it did for a little while, and that's enough for me. Yay! :D

...I think it's just because I was the second commenter, but whatever. The early loftwing gets the worm!

ALL RIGHT! So... observations. To summarize this video, harps and lyres are apparently the same thing, Link's facial expressions are incredible, Zelda's just plain awesome, Miss Sheikah decides to reappear, Ghirahim tries be evil and summons twilighty-magic-barrier-things, Fi dances and pretty sparkles form, and... Miyamoto is epic. Gods. I can't wait for November 20th. I nearly cried watching this when I realized it was only October. The only good news is that there are only 28 days left! ...Yeah, I put numbers on my calendar counting down the days until Skyward Sword's release... I'm a nerd, okay...?

The video begins with Zelda playing her "lyre". No one is entirely clear on whether it's called a lyre or a harp. As most of you probably know, I actually play harp in real life. Harps (or at least the ones I've played) typically are rather large (with the exception of lap harps, which are the cutest little instruments ever) and sit in front of the harpist as they play. According to Wikipedia, a lyre is small and is carried with the player. Therefore, Zelda's instrument is a lyre.

...But wouldn't Medli's instrument be a lyre too, then? And Sheik's? I've heard both of those called harps before.

...Anyway...

Zelda plays her lyre/harp. And I HAVE to learn that song. It's apparently called the Goddess' Song... I will learn it on harp! After Link walks in and Zelda shows off her lyre/harp a bit more, we finally get some new footage. Link comes up a staircase into some stone area at 0:32. Zelda's there too, with her lyre/harp. When their gazes meet, they start running towards one another, only to be stopped by... *dramatic pause* GHIRAHIM! Supposedly, he's going to be the main villain of Skyward Sword.

Now here's the interesting part. If you pause around 0:35, we get a farther-out view of this scene. if you look closely next to Zelda on the left side of the video... you can see someone with her. Obviously there's no way to be certain, but I'm 99% convinced that that's our girl from previous trailers (one of which can be seen here; the woman appears at 0:34). Most speculate that she is a Sheikah, due to the Sheikan eye symbol on her clothes. She's kind of far away in this shot... but I swear that's her! It's got to be! I mean, in THIS trailer (which also came out yesterday), you can see her fighting Ghirahim. For her to be helping Zelda not only supports the idea that she could be that figure in this trailer, but also that she's a Sheikah, since the Sheikah are supposed to protect the Royal Family.

Next, at 0:37, Ghirahim creates some kind of weird wall of magic. See, THIS is the reason I thought he was a Twili when I first saw him in the March GDC trailer. Doesn't that look like the Twilight magic that Zant and Ganondorf use in Twilight Princess?

Ghirahim effectively blocks Link off from Zelda, but since Zelda's too awesome for that. She uses some kind of magic - perhaps the "holy power" that Ghirahim mentions that she has in previous videos - to send Link her lovely lyre/harp. That pose, right there, with her holding the glowing lyre/harp above her head... it's just fantastic. I want that as my signature of Wizard101Central. I just don't think I can render that...

Around 0:53, you see Zelda again. Behind her is the point of interest, though; it's something I forgot to point out in my last observation post. Many people think the thing behind her looks like the Twilight mirror. I doubt that's what it actually is, but you never know!

Then it skips to another scene, where we discover that Fi, Link's partner in this game, can fly around and spink and make sparkles AND walk on walls all at the same time. It's actually really cool to watch.

At 1:02 Link plays the lyre/harp that Zelda gave him. Apparently it does something. ...Or maybe it does nothing. Whatever.

We zoom out a bit to see the area, and discover that the Goddess statue from Skyloft is in this place, too. Then Fi flies up and explodes into shininess, which rains down on Link as he plays the lyre/harp some more. Amazingly, the background transforms into whiteness, and suddenly Link is playing in the sky, with various Loftwings flying around him. Sweetness!

1:25. Link and Fi appear to be in Skyloft yet again. Link, yet again, has the lyre/harp out, and he appears to be making the ground glow or something. If you watch Fi at this point... I have no idea what she's doing. Maybe she's singing? That's kind of what it looks like.

Link dives off the cliff and flies on his Loftwing at 1:30. Like we haven't seen that before.

Finally... my favorite point of the video!!! OMG, I don't know WHAT it is about this... but I think Link is just adorable at 1:39. Forget Young Link. Or Toon Link. Skyward Sword Link's facial expressions are just... beautiful. They're really realistic, yet exaggerated. This Link is DEFINITELY some kind of combination of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker - and it's a PERFECT mix! I'm loving the graphics more and more every day.

Fi spins some more and makes more sparkles, and then the lyre/harp floats down in front of Link (who is still really awesome).

That's all there is in the video! The end.

...This is probably just some terrible wall of text that no one cares about. It's probably hard to read, too... as far as sentence fluency and flow, I mean. I didn't exactly re-read any of it...

Well, it doesn't matter. Please enjoy the video! Remember, Skyward Sword comes out November 18th in Europe, Novebmer 20th in North America! I can't wait!!!

Holy Din! (NEW SKYWARD SWORD VIDEOS AND INFO)

Zelda fans have been anticipating this for weeks, and now it's finally here. I just conveniently failed to mention it until now... because I've been neglecting my poor blog. I'm sorry, fans of Medli's Messages (if there's any of you).

GameInformer revealed a TON of new Skyward Sword information. And I MEAN... a ton. So much that I didn't even read through all of it.

First, we've got two wonderful videos, which are by FAR the easiest things to post.



This first video is one of four exclusive ones that GameInformer will be giving us. I was most interested in the music... fully orchestrated!

Phi also calls Link "Master", which was cute and creepy at the same time, if that's possible. XD



THIS video excited me even more than the last one did! This... just wow. LOTS of new stuff in here. Let's see how much of the interesting points I can mention in one post...

First noteworthy things I spotted? 0:35 - It seems like even diving will be using the MotionPlus in this game. They really implemented it in every aspect of the game. It's great!

At 0:40, we see that Link has learned some new moves as he literally hops over the monsters head to strike him from behind. This is, in fact, the same enemy (or at least similar to) that we saw in the GDC 2011 trailer in March. Like last time, Link can cut up his shield in any way he wants with the wonderful Wii MotionPlus.

Let's see... there's some kind of desert area, and of course more of the forest area we saw in Skyward Sword's first demo and trailer. Then, around 1:19, here's something new: With his sword, Link can draw symbols on some kind of... board thing that possessed the crest of the Hyrulean family without the Triforce - the bird-wing symbol we've been seeing everywhere in this game. He draws a heart, which causes Recovery Hearts to be spat out for healing. Very cool.

The bird-wing symbol is seen at 1:27 again as Link uses the Sword Beam ability - something I didn't see utilized very often in the demos, so I'm glad to witness it again - and it apparently works as some kind of switch.

Now, this part's awesome. 1:30 - DOUBLE CLAWSHOTS! Double Clawshots were the last items you obtained in Twilight Princess, and they were VERY fun. I'm ecstatic to see them return in Skyward Sword.

1:37 - Yet another new item. This time it's some kind of... hose? I can't tell if that's water or just air coming out of it. Many fans are guessing that it is the Gust Jar from The Minish Cap. (In all honesty, it reminds me more of F.L.U.D.D. from Super Mario Sunshine, but what do I know?)

At 1:43, Link's just using the bow, which isn't necessarily anything special... but then we zoom out and see his location. A pirate ship? Or... at least a ship of some sort!

1:55 is some more shots of the Beetle and it's incredible abilities of dropping bombs. And 2:07 is a switch that changes the room. For some reason, it makes me think of the Stone Tower Temple from Majora's Mask, with all that room flipping...

2:12 - Mine cart riding! Like in the Minish Cap! Epic!!!!

Finally, at 2:15, we see a glimpse of the Siren World (or is it Silent World? I've seen it spelled both ways... it's confusing me. XD). Some kind of Poe spots Link, and alerts the ominous "Guardians" of this alternate world. Link apparently has no sword in this area, and the Guardians are great, hulking monsters. Another interesting things to note is what Link looks like... he's glowing. I don't know why, but he is. And he changes colors when the Guardians chase him...

The Bug Catching Net that first appeared in A Link to the Past shows itself around 2:30, and right after that, we see some kind of potion guy, who apparently will make potions with these bugs, from what I understood. I mean, I don't speak Japanese, so I just have the video to go off of... (Poor butterfly...)

After, at 2:41 - BEEDLE! Beedle appeared first in... The Wind Waker, I believe, though he was also in Phantom Hourglass, The Minish Cap, and Spirit Tracks. This incarnation of his looks more like his Spirit Tracks version, since he seems to ride in some kind of flying machine, much like he rode in a hot air balloon in ST.

2:51 - Link uses a cool feature of Phi (A.K.A. The Skyward Sword). I'm not sure what the official name for it is (I've forgotten... sorry!) but I know he can use it to find items burried in the ground, or apparently, even Zelda herself. He then uses "Digging Mitts" which bare resemblence to The Minish Cap's Mole Mitts to dig up the items.

At 3:00, some kind of clock thingy causes a giant Sand Palace to rise out of the ground. Right afterward, Link enounters some kind of... statue... thingy... that glows magically and spins him around and takes him somewhere... I think...

3:14 - We see some bird-riding gameplay, with some mini-game where Link aims at targets. And then... ooh! Is that the giant whale that swallowed Zelda in the E3 2011 trailer? I don't know, but it seems to be kind of boss. There's another boss right after it... with tentacles or something... and then a cutscene with Link and Zelda in Skyloft (why is he bowing? WHY? She's not a princess!)... then Ghirahim and Zelda... and the fire boss thingy... and a fuzzy boss...

And then... the best part of the whole video.

4:19 - EPIC SWORD SPINING POSE FROM TWILIGHT PRINCESS!!!!

I am very happy. Just because that... is in Skyward Sword. That just made my day.

...Well, that's it! Can you tell that I rushed at the end? XD I have to go to bed - I've got a long day tomorrow.

There's also a video on Four Swords DSi, which I might comment on tomorrow, but I haven't time right now...

Skyward Sword's Box Art

Wow... two epic Skyward Sword news posts in a ROW. Well, now the two things I really wanted to know about the upcoming Zelda game are out. Should I keep following the Zelda fansites? I don't want TOO many spoilers. I already told myself that I wouldn't be checking any of the fansites between November 18th and November 20th so that I can't read the whole plot of the game and ruin it for me before it comes out in America.

...Meh, of COURSE I'm going to keep following Zelda news. That's like asking if I'm not going to eat anymore. (Not quite... but close, right? It's a pretty creative comparison, considering I'm just dying from excitement right now and can't focus on much else.)

Here we go: Skyward Sword's box art!

As you may have noticed, there's more than just box art up there! For the increased price of $69.99, you can get a special edtion Skyward Sword bundle. This includes not only the game, but the golden Wii remote we saw at E3 this year, which has the Wii MotionPlus built within it, and a CD featuring songs from the upcoming Zelda symphony concerts. A pretty epic deal.

So now, rather than paying $49.99 like any sane person would, I'm going to dig out an extra $20 and get that CD and remote. ...Well, I guess sane people could still buy the offer, if they didn't have Wii MotionPlus. But I bought that earlier, specifically for Skyward Sword. Now I'll have no use for it at all...

Whatever. SPECIAL EDITION PACKS FTW!

Reminder: November 20th is Skyward Sword's American release date! Oh, how will we stand to wait?!?

(Random: I changed the header! How is it? I probably should put up a poll like always, but I'm too lazy...)

Skyward Sword's Release Dates!

Wonderful news! Skyward Sword's release date, at LONG last, has been revealed!!! (Both my affiliates beat me to posting this, but whatever. :P)

United States - November 20th

Europe - November 18th

Lucky Europeans... not only do you all get it two days earlier than us, but you ALSO get it on a FRIDAY! You'll have the whole weekend to play it!

Do you think if I ordered Skyward Sword online from Europe, it would arrive here on the 18th? XD On second thought, I already have it preordered at GameStop, darn it.

Speaking of GameStop, they were surprisingly close with their release date prediction. I was hoping that they'd be proven wrong when the real release date came out, since they kept telling people Skyward Sword would come out "November 25th" when they had no proof whatsoever to back up this ridiculous notion. But they were only a few days off - less than a week.

I'm just disappointed it's not coming out in September. That's my birthday month. Wouldn't it be epic to get Skyward Sword for my birthday?

Oh, I have a random comment: Skyward Sword comes out on Mexican Revolution Day. No, really. I looked at my calender and that's what it said. Who knew? (Besides Mexicans...)

Anyway... that's all I have to say! I think. There WAS more, but Skyward Sword's release date pushed everything out of my mind, haha. (Something about Link's Awakening I think. ...OH! I found a useless glitch in the Wind Fish's Egg! That was it! XD)

One last thing: After logging on today, Blogger told me that Medli's Messages was popular, and "popular blogs make money" off of ads. I'm not putting any ads (at least not yet? XD) but I wanted to point out that Google thinks this blog is popular. WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE VIEWING MY BLOG? I don't mind... BUT STILL?! (I mean, 21 Followers, yet it's "more popular" than the 60+ Followed Sierra's Story? HOW?)

Skyward Sword Story Details

The Goron Times has recently added an entry about the new plot details of Skyward Sword. You can find the post here. There's isn't anything insanely new, but there ARE a few interesting spoilers. For instance: the harp will use Wii MotionPlus to strum, and we can now assume that it will be the main instrument of the game. Also, supposedly Skyward Sword is in the final stages and due for localization now. Hopefully that means a release date is coming soon.

EDIT: Something was wrong with blogger up until now, and it wouldn't let me publish my posts, so that's why this is late. I also am now too lazy to complete the whole thing, which was also going to talk about the rest of the interview with Eiji Aonuma, where he mentions Majora's Mask 3D and even a Legend of Zelda movie. The movie part was what I was excited about. I always thought Nintendo was too afraid to ever make a Zelda movie, and that's why it hasn't been made before. Apparently, they'd LOVE to make a Zelda movie, they just don't have enough money!

About MM 3D, I doubt that will ever become real, despite how awesome that would be. I mean... I don't really think that OoT 3D's graphic style would fit the dark mood of Majora's Mask, anyway. They'd have to change it a bit to be darker for it to really work well.

You can find the interview here at Zelda Dungeon.