Hi guys. It's my birthday today.
I mean, um... that has no relevance to anything at all, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Just because.
So, I'm ready to write another Link's Awakening post. I'm sure everyone's getting annoyed that I keep rambling about it, but it's my favorite game right now so SHUT UP. It's my blog.
Just under ten minutes ago, I completed my no-death run of Link's Awakening DX on the 3DS Virtual Console. I wasn't quite as moved this time by the sadness of everyone disappearing forever, but it was still pretty emotional for me. Later, you're going to hear ANOTHER rambling post from me about how incredible the music is. This is the first Zelda game to really make music an important part of the gameplay, something which even Ocarina of Time, "the greatest game on earth", decided to follow.
So, there's just a few things I wanted to touch on. This is my second playthrough of LA, and thus I was a lot better at it. A LOT better. I didn't die, right?
Right?
Well, no. Not exactly right.
See, I DID die once. And – as ashamed as I am to admit it – I CHEATED.
*gasp*
You see, the 3DS has "Restore Point" things where you can save your progress on the bottom screen at any point of the game and then return to that point whenever you feel like it. Meaning that if I create a restore point right before I die, then I can go back to the point right before I died and then NOT die. See?
Now, you know me and my hatred of walkthroughs and help like that. You know I want my accomplishments, such as this no death playthrough thing, to be indisputable. This definitely qualifies as making it disputable. Why do you think I didn't just start over the whole game once I died, as I was sorely tempted to do?
Because I SWEAR my death was a fluke.
This is how the beginning of the game went. I got through Mysterious Woods, through Tail Cave, and the Moblin Hideout, and so on, and I felt pretty good. I hadn't even come CLOSE to dying yet. Then I go to the second dungeon, Bottle Grotto, right? I went through the whole thing and I was STILL doing awesome! I couldn't help but think how easy getting this alternate ending would be. So I grab the boss key, and make a lovely restore point just a couple rooms back just in case my 3DS exploded or something (I'm not sure that a restore point would help there, but you know) and head in to the Genie's room.
Annnnnd I died.
I was so shocked. Utterly horrified that all of my work had been for nothing. I wondered what exactly I should do; I was still playing through this game for the Wiki, anyway. I was trying to get info on LA to add to pages, and the no death thing was just a bonus. Should I start over or what?
Well, though it pained me to do so, I chose to load up my restore point anyway. I was a few rooms back from the boss, so I solved the puzzle: whack the crystal and make the blocks go down, go left two screens, pick up the bottle and use Roc's Feather to jump to the other side of the pit, get the Boss Key out of the chest, hit the crystal, walk on top of the blocks to the right, then go right two more screen. Then you kill the Pol's Voices in the room and lift up this one bottle in the bottom right of the room to get a fairy to heal with, then a staircase appears and you enter it to get in front of the boss door.
I entered the door. I died again.
Furiously determined at this point, I did the things again – hit the switch, grab the key, kill the monsters, get the fairy, enter the staircase: AND I DIED AGAIN.
I was able to get to the second half of the Genie battle, you see. In that phase, though, he splits himself into clone-like figures, so you never know where he'll appear and where you can hit him. And his fireballs take a full heart of damage, so with my 4 hearts I could only make four mistakes.
Four mistakes is too few.
So, as you can tell from that long explanation above about what I needed to do before the boss, I remember it well. Want to know why that is? It's because I died SEVEN FREAKING TIMES and had to do all those actions SEVEN FREAKING TIMES before it occurred to me that I could make a new restore point right before the boss's room. And even then it took me forever – I died another four or so times before FINALLY killing that stupid, stupid, STUPID GENIE.
As soon as I did, I was OVERJOYED. I didn't even care that I'd broken my rule not use those silly restore things. I'D FINALLY KILLED THAT DUMB JERK, SO I WAS HAPPY.
Immediately afterward, I headed to Crazy Tracy's house to get some Secret Medicine. It works like a fairy in future games: it heals you automatically if you lose all your hearts.
And guess what? I still have that medicine.
In case you don't understand, I'm implying that I never died once after that Genie battle. If you assumed as much, you'd be correct.
After that, I went through the whole game without dying once, and without even using the Secret Medicine I bought way back before the third dungeon. I still had that medicine earlier today when I went to fight Nightmare the final boss, and I didn't use it.
I suppose you could argue, "Hey, you used the blue clothes, which gave you double defense!" And I suppose that's a valid point. If I hadn't had the increased defense from the Color Dungeon, then maybe I WOULD have used that medicine. But I still wouldn't have died. And I didn't get those cloth until after the third dungeon, so I went through at least one without any problems.
...SO WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THAT STUPID GENIE?
I really want to know! Is he a notoriously hard boss or something, or am I missing some obvious strategy that makes it easier to beat him? There's GOT to be something wrong with that guy! It can't just be me! I beat the WHOLE GAME without even coming close to dying, but that dumb Genie killed me at least TEN times! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
Well...
*sigh*
Yeah... I'm sorry. I honestly don't get it, though. But know this: I will never forget this day, Genie. And some day, far in the future, I'll replay Link's Awakening, and I WILL kill you. You shall never taste victory ever again, for I will forever remember your scheming and evil fireballs, and I will find a way to defeat you without dying. This is a new "thing", for me; it's just like how I'll never forget knocking over my Wii and restarting MM because I was angry at those ReDeads. Or, more accurately, I won't forget where to get bombs in MM because I was stupid and didn't realize there's a Bomb Shop in Clock Town. Actually, this closely resembles how I now know to not press any buttons when doing the Goron's part of the Moon in order to get the Fierce Deity's mask.
...Hmm. I was pretty stupid in Majora's Mask, wasn't I?
Anyway, I beat the game earlier and the no death ending that I worked so hard for was quite anticlimactic. Marin just shows up and she turns into a seagull. I knew that was what would happen, but I thought... I don't know. I thought it would happen in a more interesting way, you know?
Well, that Genie tale is pretty much the only interesting story from my LA DX playthrough. I can't think of anything else that happened that's worth telling on this blog. But that should be enough for now, right?
Have a nice day, everyone. Hopefully I'll come up with another post later this month. ^^
Welcome to Medli's Messages, the amazing video game blog centered around The Legend of Zelda! Expect updates, thoughts on new games, randomness, rants, and more! (NOTE: This blog contains unmarked spoilers.)
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
OMG GUYS I FORGOT ABOUT THIS BLOG!
I'm sooooooorrrrrryyyy! D:
I had big plans for August posts – I've had the blog up in a separate tab for a good week or so. Unfortunately, I've procrastinated again. Sorry guys. This is sort of just a brief update so that I can keep my record again.
At least I have some news! First of all, school has started back up for me, and I've been quite busy. Am I allowed to blame my absence from this blog on that? ...Well, in reality, it's mainly the Zelda Dungeon Wiki. I'm kind of scared now. I think I'm literally obsessed with it. I HAVE to get in at least two edits per day. It's like how I need one post per month here – I've had to at least edits per day since June 9th or something like that, so I'm keeping it up. That's what I was just doing before I remembered this blog: adding references the Photo Album page for Link's Awakening.
Oh, hey, since I have about fifteen minutes, how about I tell a short story? I remember seeing the Photo Album page on Zelda Wiki forever ago, and I looooved the pictures. I didn't have Link's Awakening at the time, and I was amazed by them. I saved that page on my DSi – remember when I used to use that for everything, before I got my 3DS and iPad? Yeah. I think it's still on my favorites (or bookmarks or whatever the heck they call it on there). But, yeah, so, I really wanted to make my own Photo Album page. Sooooo I did. On July 22nd, 2012, I made the page for Photo Album. Yay. ^^
...That was a lame story. I'm sorry.
Anyway, on the wiki I'm doing mostly Link's Awakening stuff. See, I've been replaying through LA in an attempt to get the no death ending. After I'm done, I'll write an update about it, since I have at least one funny story to tell. It involves how I'm getting my no deaths. Well, you see, after the first dungeon I hadn't even come close to dying, and I was sooo confident going into the second dungeon, and then at the end... well, I won't tell you, haha. I find it annoyingly hilarious – it was really frustrating at the time but it's funny now – and I'm sure I'll have some fun ranting and raging about it later.
Ooooh. Annnd... well, I bought a new game. You know me – that's a big deal, right? Well, maybe you wouldn't know since I only talk about my purchases that interest me, which are primarily Zelda stuff, but yeah. Kid Icarus, before this game, was the last game I bought. It's rare that I get something new. But anyway, there was the Steam sale, and I've been wanting to try this game for a long time – since November, actually, but I was kind of preoccupied with SS to even worry about it – and I finally got it with the sale. Of course, I went on vacation to Canada that same day, so I had to wait a good two weeks or so before I can play it.
Can you guess what it is yet? If not, don't worry; I'll tell you in a later post. Promise. It's kind of like Dragon Quest IX in the sense that I love it enough that I'd actually write an update-esque post about it. So there. It's a GOOD game. Okay, I know I was mean and biased and judgemental about it earlier, but I never said I didn't like it. I did say I'd probably never try it, but you know, it was against Skyward Sword, so–
...I'm going to reveal the answer if I say any more... :P
Anyway, it's 11:55. I guess I'm not going to finish that Photo Album update before the time limit now, but that's okay. I already did my two edits for today.
Oh! Oh! I almost forgot the most important announcement:
HYRULE HISTORIA IS GETTING AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION!
I'm quite ecstatic. I haven't preordered it yet because my parents want me to go to a bookstore to
order it, but whatever. I'm excited! ^^
Well, goodnight everyone! Enjoy September! That's my birthday month...
I had big plans for August posts – I've had the blog up in a separate tab for a good week or so. Unfortunately, I've procrastinated again. Sorry guys. This is sort of just a brief update so that I can keep my record again.
At least I have some news! First of all, school has started back up for me, and I've been quite busy. Am I allowed to blame my absence from this blog on that? ...Well, in reality, it's mainly the Zelda Dungeon Wiki. I'm kind of scared now. I think I'm literally obsessed with it. I HAVE to get in at least two edits per day. It's like how I need one post per month here – I've had to at least edits per day since June 9th or something like that, so I'm keeping it up. That's what I was just doing before I remembered this blog: adding references the Photo Album page for Link's Awakening.
Oh, hey, since I have about fifteen minutes, how about I tell a short story? I remember seeing the Photo Album page on Zelda Wiki forever ago, and I looooved the pictures. I didn't have Link's Awakening at the time, and I was amazed by them. I saved that page on my DSi – remember when I used to use that for everything, before I got my 3DS and iPad? Yeah. I think it's still on my favorites (or bookmarks or whatever the heck they call it on there). But, yeah, so, I really wanted to make my own Photo Album page. Sooooo I did. On July 22nd, 2012, I made the page for Photo Album. Yay. ^^
...That was a lame story. I'm sorry.
Anyway, on the wiki I'm doing mostly Link's Awakening stuff. See, I've been replaying through LA in an attempt to get the no death ending. After I'm done, I'll write an update about it, since I have at least one funny story to tell. It involves how I'm getting my no deaths. Well, you see, after the first dungeon I hadn't even come close to dying, and I was sooo confident going into the second dungeon, and then at the end... well, I won't tell you, haha. I find it annoyingly hilarious – it was really frustrating at the time but it's funny now – and I'm sure I'll have some fun ranting and raging about it later.
Ooooh. Annnd... well, I bought a new game. You know me – that's a big deal, right? Well, maybe you wouldn't know since I only talk about my purchases that interest me, which are primarily Zelda stuff, but yeah. Kid Icarus, before this game, was the last game I bought. It's rare that I get something new. But anyway, there was the Steam sale, and I've been wanting to try this game for a long time – since November, actually, but I was kind of preoccupied with SS to even worry about it – and I finally got it with the sale. Of course, I went on vacation to Canada that same day, so I had to wait a good two weeks or so before I can play it.
Can you guess what it is yet? If not, don't worry; I'll tell you in a later post. Promise. It's kind of like Dragon Quest IX in the sense that I love it enough that I'd actually write an update-esque post about it. So there. It's a GOOD game. Okay, I know I was mean and biased and judgemental about it earlier, but I never said I didn't like it. I did say I'd probably never try it, but you know, it was against Skyward Sword, so–
...I'm going to reveal the answer if I say any more... :P
Anyway, it's 11:55. I guess I'm not going to finish that Photo Album update before the time limit now, but that's okay. I already did my two edits for today.
Oh! Oh! I almost forgot the most important announcement:
HYRULE HISTORIA IS GETTING AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION!
I'm quite ecstatic. I haven't preordered it yet because my parents want me to go to a bookstore to
order it, but whatever. I'm excited! ^^
Well, goodnight everyone! Enjoy September! That's my birthday month...
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
The Link's Awakening Manga...
...is amazing.
I think I've mentioned once or twice that Link's Awakening is among my favorite video games of all time, right? I know I haven't been posting too often, but I'm sure I've at least implied that. Quite frankly, the story and the music are the best in the series.
I have been aware of the existence of the Link's Awakening manga for a while now; I buried that information in the back of my mind long ago, when I was still browsing random pages on Zelda Wiki and managed to find the entry for it, a complete and utter noob to the series trying to learn more about the games I wished to someday own. It didn't interest me back then (I mean, it was going to be translated eventually like the other Zelda manga I was undoubtedly waiting for; duh).
As I stated in my previous post, I've been contributing to the Zelda Dungeon Wiki a lot recently, and yesterday I somehow stumbled upon this wiki's own entry about the Link's Awakening manga. With not much else to do, I decided to follow the link that was listed at the bottom of the page, which led to a translation on History of Hyrule.
ANDOHMYGODSITWASEPIC.
This manga managed to perfectly capture everything I loved about the game... and more.
Listen: I used to rant on and on about how incredible the manga series was. I thought they were perfect adaptions of these incredible games. In fact, one might say they were what made me become a Zelda fan – I bought the Ocarina of Time manga, Volume One, when I only owned The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, so I really hadn't cared much about the "Legend of Zelda" aspect of those two games' titles until I read the manga and became interested in previous installments. Actually, now that I think of it, I've been reading the manga since the very first volume released; as this post suggests, I waited until the day almost every volume came out, to get it on the first day or as soon as possible (such as the Christmas following OoT V2's release).
In recent years, I've reread most of the manga, and they're decidedly... cheesy. Oh, no, I still love them to death. The artwork's incredible, and I can't imagine how hard it must be to make a video game into a fully comprehensive story. Not just a story, even – a manga. I won't pretend to know a lot about manga, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of work put into them.
But... some parts are so cliché, they're cringe-worthy.
Link doesn't have a personality. Or, if he does, he's either annoyingly overconfident, annoyingly under-confident, or way too into the Hero stereotype with helping out people and destroying evil for him to be even somewhat believable. The only exception was Four Swords, where, of course, each of the Links had a defining personality to them – although Green was still our classically annoying sterotype. Plus, a lot of important or interesting plot points are skipped. Seriously, what happened to the Shadow Temple? That was my favorite Ocarina of Time Dungeon. On top of it all, there are tons of mistakes. I'm certain the Japanese writing is better, but still. (I think specifically of "Are you sure you should be telling tell me something so important, Zelda?" from Ocarina of Time Volume One... and the lines were mixed up once in The Minish Cap, twice in Four Swords Volume Two... and I thought for a good while that Ocarina of Time came out in 1996 because of an error...)
Now, back on topic, let's go to the Link's Awakening manga. I discovered that it was actually made by a different artist: Ataru Cagiva. The other mangas are written by Akira Himekawa, a collaboration of two women. I have no idea who Ataru Cagiva is or what his/her other projects might be, but their manga adaptation of one of my favorite games was beautiful.
I suppose one might still say that there were cheesy moments and Link's personality wasn't all that better: he still had that frustrating overconfidence. And, another thing I never really liked about the A Link to the Past official manga was Ghanti, a random OC who appeared to be added in for no reason other than the authors' enjoyment. I still can't figure out the reason behind Master Drona in the Link's Awakening manga. He just appears out of nowhere and wants to fight Link. Seriously, you couldn't have pulled out a mini-boss or something for that role? Why was a random pig-guy necessary? Felicia, Link's fairy companion, also got on my nerves occasionally, but from one point of view, I could kind of see why the author had added her; she held the instruments for Link, which is something that was never really explained in the game, and she was useful when Link needed someone to talk to. She also contributed to the feelings of betrayal that appeared later, and she heighten the emotion – but I'll talk about that more later. And the translators still made mistakes, just like VizKidz (Your dead! Spin Attcak!).
So, if there's still all these problems, what made Link's Awakening the best manga for me?
The emotion. The emotion is exactly why I loved Link's Awakening in the first place. I didn't cry in Skyward Sword, nor in Majora's Mask, nor in any other video game in existence – but I strongly recall, more than any other moment in Zelda history, reading the tablet in Southern Face Shrine in Link's Awakening. This was the real turning point of the game, where everything is revealed to be an illusion... and the point at which all is revealed is just so, so amazing...
This picture...
With this text...
Combined with this hauntingly gorgeous music...
...makes my favorite Zelda moment.
Now, to return to the topic... The manga captured this beautifully. The reason I liked Link's Awakening Manga Link more than any of the others was because of his emotions. He reacted as any normal person would – confusion, anger, feelings of betrayal toward those who had been helping him, and those who had known. I felt one of the best moments was when Link actually tried to escape the island along with Marin on a raft. I really felt that that was a realistic decision someone would make.
...And the whole time Link read that tablet, the music was going through my head...
I'm also going to throw out that I loved the "Messenger of Awakening" title. That should have totally been in the game. I think Link was developed very well, where he starts off completely willing to save the island, from going to denying his destiny, to deciding that it is fate after all.
Another great improvement over Akira Himekawa's manga – there was actually some action! The dungeons all felt rushed in the mangas, where as here, Link was shown fighting not only bosses, but also weaker enemies, even around Koholint Island's overworld while travelling.
Another great point: the characters. ...Besides Link, since I already mentioned that I loved him. When I first started reading it, I wasn't expecting a much different experience than the other Zelda mangas. In fact, the first volume wasn't anything spectacular, although I did still enjoy it more than the other mangas. It wasn't until the second volume where I started thinking about how amazing it was.
But if there's one thing I thought when I started reading, it was that Marin is absolutely adorable.
Okay, okay, um, that's not a good reason to love a character, I suppose... no matter how true it is. Nevertheless, I liked her and Tarin (well... mostly her) and I thought they were portrayed rather well, considering their lack of screen time. I don't know why Tarin didn't turn into a Racoon, though. And personally, Marin and Link's farewell could have been even more emotional. As a side note, I also felt that Felicia and Link's relationship was rather... forced. I didn't feel much change with their attitudes toward one another, until Link outright stated that he felt differently about Felicia than when they first met. I think that the readers should be able to tell on their own that something's changing between them, without having it told to us (although, I must admit, I'm utterly guilty of that in many of my own works of fiction; it's so much easier to just come out and say it). Perhaps if they'd started sharing smiles, or inside jokes, or even simple signs of friendship... or, you know, some touchy-feely moment of some sort. Even so, the characters and plot were very well-done.
Honestly, I loved it all. I can't get enough of this manga.
...It NEEDS an official translation. I'd pay any price for a physical copy of this manga.
I think that's all I'll say about it for tonight – it's 1:30 in the morning. I stayed up for an hour writing this. I'm just on a complete and utter Link's Awakening high right now. I can't stop thinking about how awesome that game is, haha. I'm really sorry about this long, somewhat rambling entry, but I really wanted to talk about this! ^^ I have not had the chance to read over this yet, so there are likely many mistakes and horribly worded sentences. It's also probably rather disorganized. I'll hopefully get around to editing tomorrow; I really want to go to bed now...
Thank you for reading, and as always, have a good day, my nonexistent readers!
I think I've mentioned once or twice that Link's Awakening is among my favorite video games of all time, right? I know I haven't been posting too often, but I'm sure I've at least implied that. Quite frankly, the story and the music are the best in the series.
I have been aware of the existence of the Link's Awakening manga for a while now; I buried that information in the back of my mind long ago, when I was still browsing random pages on Zelda Wiki and managed to find the entry for it, a complete and utter noob to the series trying to learn more about the games I wished to someday own. It didn't interest me back then (I mean, it was going to be translated eventually like the other Zelda manga I was undoubtedly waiting for; duh).
As I stated in my previous post, I've been contributing to the Zelda Dungeon Wiki a lot recently, and yesterday I somehow stumbled upon this wiki's own entry about the Link's Awakening manga. With not much else to do, I decided to follow the link that was listed at the bottom of the page, which led to a translation on History of Hyrule.
ANDOHMYGODSITWASEPIC.
This manga managed to perfectly capture everything I loved about the game... and more.
Listen: I used to rant on and on about how incredible the manga series was. I thought they were perfect adaptions of these incredible games. In fact, one might say they were what made me become a Zelda fan – I bought the Ocarina of Time manga, Volume One, when I only owned The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, so I really hadn't cared much about the "Legend of Zelda" aspect of those two games' titles until I read the manga and became interested in previous installments. Actually, now that I think of it, I've been reading the manga since the very first volume released; as this post suggests, I waited until the day almost every volume came out, to get it on the first day or as soon as possible (such as the Christmas following OoT V2's release).
In recent years, I've reread most of the manga, and they're decidedly... cheesy. Oh, no, I still love them to death. The artwork's incredible, and I can't imagine how hard it must be to make a video game into a fully comprehensive story. Not just a story, even – a manga. I won't pretend to know a lot about manga, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of work put into them.
But... some parts are so cliché, they're cringe-worthy.
Link doesn't have a personality. Or, if he does, he's either annoyingly overconfident, annoyingly under-confident, or way too into the Hero stereotype with helping out people and destroying evil for him to be even somewhat believable. The only exception was Four Swords, where, of course, each of the Links had a defining personality to them – although Green was still our classically annoying sterotype. Plus, a lot of important or interesting plot points are skipped. Seriously, what happened to the Shadow Temple? That was my favorite Ocarina of Time Dungeon. On top of it all, there are tons of mistakes. I'm certain the Japanese writing is better, but still. (I think specifically of "Are you sure you should be telling tell me something so important, Zelda?" from Ocarina of Time Volume One... and the lines were mixed up once in The Minish Cap, twice in Four Swords Volume Two... and I thought for a good while that Ocarina of Time came out in 1996 because of an error...)
Now, back on topic, let's go to the Link's Awakening manga. I discovered that it was actually made by a different artist: Ataru Cagiva. The other mangas are written by Akira Himekawa, a collaboration of two women. I have no idea who Ataru Cagiva is or what his/her other projects might be, but their manga adaptation of one of my favorite games was beautiful.
I suppose one might still say that there were cheesy moments and Link's personality wasn't all that better: he still had that frustrating overconfidence. And, another thing I never really liked about the A Link to the Past official manga was Ghanti, a random OC who appeared to be added in for no reason other than the authors' enjoyment. I still can't figure out the reason behind Master Drona in the Link's Awakening manga. He just appears out of nowhere and wants to fight Link. Seriously, you couldn't have pulled out a mini-boss or something for that role? Why was a random pig-guy necessary? Felicia, Link's fairy companion, also got on my nerves occasionally, but from one point of view, I could kind of see why the author had added her; she held the instruments for Link, which is something that was never really explained in the game, and she was useful when Link needed someone to talk to. She also contributed to the feelings of betrayal that appeared later, and she heighten the emotion – but I'll talk about that more later. And the translators still made mistakes, just like VizKidz (Your dead! Spin Attcak!).
So, if there's still all these problems, what made Link's Awakening the best manga for me?
The emotion. The emotion is exactly why I loved Link's Awakening in the first place. I didn't cry in Skyward Sword, nor in Majora's Mask, nor in any other video game in existence – but I strongly recall, more than any other moment in Zelda history, reading the tablet in Southern Face Shrine in Link's Awakening. This was the real turning point of the game, where everything is revealed to be an illusion... and the point at which all is revealed is just so, so amazing...
This picture...
With this text...
"TO THE FINDER... THE ISLE OF KOHOLINT, IS BUT AN ILLUSION... HUMAN, MONSTER, SEA, SKY... A SCENE ON THE LID OF A SLEEPER'S EYE... AWAKE THE DREAMER, AND KOHOLINT WILL VANISH MUCH LIKE A BUBBLE ON A NEEDLE... CAST-AWAY, YOU SHOULD KNOW THE TRUTH!"
Combined with this hauntingly gorgeous music...
...makes my favorite Zelda moment.
Now, to return to the topic... The manga captured this beautifully. The reason I liked Link's Awakening Manga Link more than any of the others was because of his emotions. He reacted as any normal person would – confusion, anger, feelings of betrayal toward those who had been helping him, and those who had known. I felt one of the best moments was when Link actually tried to escape the island along with Marin on a raft. I really felt that that was a realistic decision someone would make.
...And the whole time Link read that tablet, the music was going through my head...
I'm also going to throw out that I loved the "Messenger of Awakening" title. That should have totally been in the game. I think Link was developed very well, where he starts off completely willing to save the island, from going to denying his destiny, to deciding that it is fate after all.
Another great improvement over Akira Himekawa's manga – there was actually some action! The dungeons all felt rushed in the mangas, where as here, Link was shown fighting not only bosses, but also weaker enemies, even around Koholint Island's overworld while travelling.
Another great point: the characters. ...Besides Link, since I already mentioned that I loved him. When I first started reading it, I wasn't expecting a much different experience than the other Zelda mangas. In fact, the first volume wasn't anything spectacular, although I did still enjoy it more than the other mangas. It wasn't until the second volume where I started thinking about how amazing it was.
But if there's one thing I thought when I started reading, it was that Marin is absolutely adorable.
Okay, okay, um, that's not a good reason to love a character, I suppose... no matter how true it is. Nevertheless, I liked her and Tarin (well... mostly her) and I thought they were portrayed rather well, considering their lack of screen time. I don't know why Tarin didn't turn into a Racoon, though. And personally, Marin and Link's farewell could have been even more emotional. As a side note, I also felt that Felicia and Link's relationship was rather... forced. I didn't feel much change with their attitudes toward one another, until Link outright stated that he felt differently about Felicia than when they first met. I think that the readers should be able to tell on their own that something's changing between them, without having it told to us (although, I must admit, I'm utterly guilty of that in many of my own works of fiction; it's so much easier to just come out and say it). Perhaps if they'd started sharing smiles, or inside jokes, or even simple signs of friendship... or, you know, some touchy-feely moment of some sort. Even so, the characters and plot were very well-done.
Honestly, I loved it all. I can't get enough of this manga.
...It NEEDS an official translation. I'd pay any price for a physical copy of this manga.
I think that's all I'll say about it for tonight – it's 1:30 in the morning. I stayed up for an hour writing this. I'm just on a complete and utter Link's Awakening high right now. I can't stop thinking about how awesome that game is, haha. I'm really sorry about this long, somewhat rambling entry, but I really wanted to talk about this! ^^ I have not had the chance to read over this yet, so there are likely many mistakes and horribly worded sentences. It's also probably rather disorganized. I'll hopefully get around to editing tomorrow; I really want to go to bed now...
Thank you for reading, and as always, have a good day, my nonexistent readers!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
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!)
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
What was at E3 this year?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Funny how in my last post, I hoped it wouldn't be just generic Mario games and Pikmin 3 footage. And that's exactly what it was.
There was, of course, no Zelda – but I could live with that. I could live with it if, maybe, we saw some Smash Bros. (wistful thinking), or even Metroid or Starfox or whatever. Anything besides Mario. Anything new.
In fact, the most Zelda-related thing we saw was this casual Zelda-based mini-game in the upcoming NintendoLand for Wii U. I hope it comes bundled with the Wii U, because I'm not buying it on its own, though it would be interesting to try the Zelda mini-game.
Pikmin 3 didn't look bad. In fact, it looked pretty awesome, and it made for an exciting start to the presentation. I'm just not a Pikmin fan; I was really, really horrible at the first game. But that was at least something different. Oh, and I guess Luigi's Mansion 2 wasn't bad either. I might actually try that game.
But besides that, all we got was Mario. And, I'm terribly sorry to any Mario fans, but that wasn't at all interesting to me. There's never really been a Mario game where I've thought, "Wow, this was amazing!" Super Mario Sunshine was okay on GameCube (I know my friends certainly liked it when I was in elementary school; I bought it because I had a friend who claimed it was better than Super Smash Bros. Melee, and wow, how could that be possible, because Melee was the greatest game of all time ever to exist ever?), but I've never really liked platformers. Not to mention I absolutely suck at them. Who knows? Maybe I'm just not playing the right ones. But from an inexperienced Mario observer, I only saw a New Super Mario Bros. copy with extradordinarily similar graphics that do the Wii U no justice and a couple more items and redesigned levels. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course.
Oh, and not to mention, if I'm correct, almost every first-party title that Nintendo announced was already confirmed before E3 today. There wasn't anything new at all. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I definitely knew there was a Wii U Mario coming, a Pikmin 3, and Luigi's Mansion 2. The only other thing I heard was a new Paper Mario.
...On the other hand, I suppose I shouldn't lose hope. Nintendo might still be hiding something – though if it's a game as major as a new Zelda, why wouldn't they have shown it today? Maybe we'll still get that HD collection, though, or something similar.
Nintendo's 3DS game announcements will be tomorrow at 6 PM PT. Will we hear something Zelda – or, for the love of Nayru, at least something new?! We'll see!
Absolutely nothing.
Funny how in my last post, I hoped it wouldn't be just generic Mario games and Pikmin 3 footage. And that's exactly what it was.
There was, of course, no Zelda – but I could live with that. I could live with it if, maybe, we saw some Smash Bros. (wistful thinking), or even Metroid or Starfox or whatever. Anything besides Mario. Anything new.
In fact, the most Zelda-related thing we saw was this casual Zelda-based mini-game in the upcoming NintendoLand for Wii U. I hope it comes bundled with the Wii U, because I'm not buying it on its own, though it would be interesting to try the Zelda mini-game.
Pikmin 3 didn't look bad. In fact, it looked pretty awesome, and it made for an exciting start to the presentation. I'm just not a Pikmin fan; I was really, really horrible at the first game. But that was at least something different. Oh, and I guess Luigi's Mansion 2 wasn't bad either. I might actually try that game.
But besides that, all we got was Mario. And, I'm terribly sorry to any Mario fans, but that wasn't at all interesting to me. There's never really been a Mario game where I've thought, "Wow, this was amazing!" Super Mario Sunshine was okay on GameCube (I know my friends certainly liked it when I was in elementary school; I bought it because I had a friend who claimed it was better than Super Smash Bros. Melee, and wow, how could that be possible, because Melee was the greatest game of all time ever to exist ever?), but I've never really liked platformers. Not to mention I absolutely suck at them. Who knows? Maybe I'm just not playing the right ones. But from an inexperienced Mario observer, I only saw a New Super Mario Bros. copy with extradordinarily similar graphics that do the Wii U no justice and a couple more items and redesigned levels. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course.
Oh, and not to mention, if I'm correct, almost every first-party title that Nintendo announced was already confirmed before E3 today. There wasn't anything new at all. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I definitely knew there was a Wii U Mario coming, a Pikmin 3, and Luigi's Mansion 2. The only other thing I heard was a new Paper Mario.
...On the other hand, I suppose I shouldn't lose hope. Nintendo might still be hiding something – though if it's a game as major as a new Zelda, why wouldn't they have shown it today? Maybe we'll still get that HD collection, though, or something similar.
Nintendo's 3DS game announcements will be tomorrow at 6 PM PT. Will we hear something Zelda – or, for the love of Nayru, at least something new?! We'll see!
E3 in an Hour!
...Well, technically it's less than an hour now. More like 48 minutes. But that's okay.
Nintendo's E3 press conference, on June 5th at 9 AM PT, is just about to start. I'm excited – I'm hoping more than anything that they'll have new Super Smash Bros. news, or perhaps even some new Zelda footage. I doubt there'll be anything on Zelda Wii U, but maybe we'll get lucky. It's more likely they'll announce a new Zelda 3DS, or, as the rumor goes, a Zelda Wii U HD Collection of many revamped past games.
I'm planning on watching E3 on TV – mainly since the computer is being used right now by another family member. It's on Spike TV (and, supposedly, on MTV2 as well, but I have no idea what channel that is; I didn't bother looking for it last night). You can also watch it at E3.Nintendo.com. That's where I watched a pre-E3 presentation on the Wii U. However, while they say it's optimized for smartphones and the like, I initially attempted to watch it on my iPad, and it wasn't working properly. While both image and sound did come through, they were not synced together for some reason, so about half way through the presentation I switched to the computer. I don't want that to happen again.
Anyway... expect an update from me later today, or at least later this month! That is, of course, assuming that there will be something that I care about there, and not just a ton of Zombie shooters and Pikmin and Mario and... I don't even know what else...
(Yes, it's true: I don't like Pikmin, and most Mario games aren't my thing. And I've played the first Pikmin and Super Mario Sunshine and the original Super Mario Bros., and I'm just awful at them all. I'll stick to my story-driven dungeon-puzzle Zelda games.)
Nintendo's E3 press conference, on June 5th at 9 AM PT, is just about to start. I'm excited – I'm hoping more than anything that they'll have new Super Smash Bros. news, or perhaps even some new Zelda footage. I doubt there'll be anything on Zelda Wii U, but maybe we'll get lucky. It's more likely they'll announce a new Zelda 3DS, or, as the rumor goes, a Zelda Wii U HD Collection of many revamped past games.
I'm planning on watching E3 on TV – mainly since the computer is being used right now by another family member. It's on Spike TV (and, supposedly, on MTV2 as well, but I have no idea what channel that is; I didn't bother looking for it last night). You can also watch it at E3.Nintendo.com. That's where I watched a pre-E3 presentation on the Wii U. However, while they say it's optimized for smartphones and the like, I initially attempted to watch it on my iPad, and it wasn't working properly. While both image and sound did come through, they were not synced together for some reason, so about half way through the presentation I switched to the computer. I don't want that to happen again.
Anyway... expect an update from me later today, or at least later this month! That is, of course, assuming that there will be something that I care about there, and not just a ton of Zombie shooters and Pikmin and Mario and... I don't even know what else...
(Yes, it's true: I don't like Pikmin, and most Mario games aren't my thing. And I've played the first Pikmin and Super Mario Sunshine and the original Super Mario Bros., and I'm just awful at them all. I'll stick to my story-driven dungeon-puzzle Zelda games.)
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
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.
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?
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.
Anyway... maybe everyone knows about this, and I'm just a bit late in noticing it. XD
*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.
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.
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! |
...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.
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
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
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. ^^
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. ^^
Monday, April 30, 2012
Nyan.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I swear. Unless I'm grounded again – which is actually very likely to happen. But you know. Tomorrow.
What's happening tomorrow, you may ask? Well... I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO POST SOMETHING NOT ON THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH. ISN'T THAT FANTASTIC?!
And I actually have a lot to say! First of all... I WENT TO SYMPHONY OF THE GODDESSES. It made my life. I really want to talk about it, because I have plenty of stories to tell. My only regret from that night was not nerding out with everyone else there. I feel like I should have talked to them a bit more, since no one I know in real life really knows anything about Zelda. The most in-depth two-sided Zelda conversation I have (meaning, not just me ranting while my friends stare blankly at me, whispering "What the heck is she talking about?" to one another) is whether or not Skyrim and/or Resident Evil are better than Zelda. Which, I think, we all know the answer to.
Now, technically speaking, I COULD write a full post here... but I'd really like to go in-depth! Like I've said, I have no Legend of Zelda-loving friends, so I only have this blog to describe my epic experiences to. Like... Oh, geez. I have the best story on the planet that I MUST record here some day. The best thing that's ever happened to me in a video game, EVER. It was on Twilight Princess, and these two Darknuts...
...Um, later.
Anyway, tomorrow, May first, I'll do my best to write my first relevant post in a while. However, on Wednesday, I have a language arts project due, and since I didn't do it tonight... I have to find time tomorrow.
Now, I have to go watch My Little Pony, 'kay? I've only got one more episode until I'm caught up to the Royal Wedding. :D Plus, I'm not allowed on the computer after ten anymore. Seriously. My parents put in a block to the Wi-Fi. No more late night fanfiction reading for me. :(
MLP TIME! (Gods, Lucas... If you're still reading this, I hope you know that that comment oh so long ago changed my life. That day, I actually watched MLP. Thank you so much. XD)
What's happening tomorrow, you may ask? Well... I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO POST SOMETHING NOT ON THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH. ISN'T THAT FANTASTIC?!
And I actually have a lot to say! First of all... I WENT TO SYMPHONY OF THE GODDESSES. It made my life. I really want to talk about it, because I have plenty of stories to tell. My only regret from that night was not nerding out with everyone else there. I feel like I should have talked to them a bit more, since no one I know in real life really knows anything about Zelda. The most in-depth two-sided Zelda conversation I have (meaning, not just me ranting while my friends stare blankly at me, whispering "What the heck is she talking about?" to one another) is whether or not Skyrim and/or Resident Evil are better than Zelda. Which, I think, we all know the answer to.
Now, technically speaking, I COULD write a full post here... but I'd really like to go in-depth! Like I've said, I have no Legend of Zelda-loving friends, so I only have this blog to describe my epic experiences to. Like... Oh, geez. I have the best story on the planet that I MUST record here some day. The best thing that's ever happened to me in a video game, EVER. It was on Twilight Princess, and these two Darknuts...
...Um, later.
Anyway, tomorrow, May first, I'll do my best to write my first relevant post in a while. However, on Wednesday, I have a language arts project due, and since I didn't do it tonight... I have to find time tomorrow.
Now, I have to go watch My Little Pony, 'kay? I've only got one more episode until I'm caught up to the Royal Wedding. :D Plus, I'm not allowed on the computer after ten anymore. Seriously. My parents put in a block to the Wi-Fi. No more late night fanfiction reading for me. :(
MLP TIME! (Gods, Lucas... If you're still reading this, I hope you know that that comment oh so long ago changed my life. That day, I actually watched MLP. Thank you so much. XD)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
I'm only posting for bragging rights!
Again.
But, honestly, it's almost the end of the month. One minute until tomorrow, to be exact. How stupid am I?
I just HAVE to have a post in March. FOR BRAGGING RIGHTS. XD
I actually did try to write a post a few days ago. It wasn't Zelda related, though. It had to do with Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is the best 3DS game in history. I liked it more than Ocarina of Time 3D. On the OTHER hand, OoT was a remake, and I'd already played the original a thousand times through so it had lost some of its magic (though it will always retain the nostalgia). Unfortunately, my iPad did something stupid and erased the post, so I gave up. My iPad tends to be almost as bad as my DSi. Almost.
...Weird. Over the course of writing this post, it has past midnight. Do you think it will show up as being in April now? That would make me sad. D:
Tomorrow, I shall attempt to get on and write a more detailed report on why I adore Kid Icarus, but for now I should PROBABLY get some sleep. After all, tomorrow's a busy day. I have to dress up as the Easter Bunny. I'm not joking. XD Pluuuuusss... I have to watch Tobuscus play Skyward Sword! You know, that's something that I should address in my next post. Toby FINALLY started Skyward Sword, after three weeks and two days since he posted a video on his third (or second?) channel saying he would. Yes, I counted the days. I was that excited. I love Toby, and that was even before I knew he would play Zelda.
On a side note: PARAGRAPHS ON THIS BLOG HATE ME. They always remove themselves. This time, I put them in manually with my limited knowledge of HTML code. Let's see what happens!
But, honestly, it's almost the end of the month. One minute until tomorrow, to be exact. How stupid am I?
I just HAVE to have a post in March. FOR BRAGGING RIGHTS. XD
I actually did try to write a post a few days ago. It wasn't Zelda related, though. It had to do with Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is the best 3DS game in history. I liked it more than Ocarina of Time 3D. On the OTHER hand, OoT was a remake, and I'd already played the original a thousand times through so it had lost some of its magic (though it will always retain the nostalgia). Unfortunately, my iPad did something stupid and erased the post, so I gave up. My iPad tends to be almost as bad as my DSi. Almost.
...Weird. Over the course of writing this post, it has past midnight. Do you think it will show up as being in April now? That would make me sad. D:
Tomorrow, I shall attempt to get on and write a more detailed report on why I adore Kid Icarus, but for now I should PROBABLY get some sleep. After all, tomorrow's a busy day. I have to dress up as the Easter Bunny. I'm not joking. XD Pluuuuusss... I have to watch Tobuscus play Skyward Sword! You know, that's something that I should address in my next post. Toby FINALLY started Skyward Sword, after three weeks and two days since he posted a video on his third (or second?) channel saying he would. Yes, I counted the days. I was that excited. I love Toby, and that was even before I knew he would play Zelda.
On a side note: PARAGRAPHS ON THIS BLOG HATE ME. They always remove themselves. This time, I put them in manually with my limited knowledge of HTML code. Let's see what happens!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
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.)
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.)
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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...
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...
Saturday, December 3, 2011
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!
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!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
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.)
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.)
Saturday, November 12, 2011
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!)
Saturday, October 22, 2011
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!!!
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!!!
Monday, September 12, 2011
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...
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...
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link Available for Ambassadors!
If you were part of the select few in the Ambassador program, meaning you connected to the Nintendo 3DS eShop before August 11th, then your first 10 NES games are now available for download, free of charge!
Legend of Zelda is there, as expected, as well as Adventure of Link. Other games include:
Super Mario Bros.
Metroid
Donkey Kong Jr.
Yoshi
Ice Climbers
Balloon Fight
NES Open Tournament Golf
Wrecking Crew
And an "Ambassador Certificate," which is basically just a video explaining how to receive notifications about the Ambassador program in a variety of languages.
I've played Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link a little - particularly Adventure of Link, since I never got passed the second dungeon on my other version, which is for the Wii's Virtual Console. It's not any different, of course. ...That doesn't mean I'm not having trouble with it, haha. Adventure of Link is VERY hard.
Legend of Zelda, however... there's a difference! Well, okay, there's not a difference between the original and this one, but there IS a difference between other remakes of this game! On my version (on the Wii Virtual Console) and on the GameBoy, the story message at the very beginning of the game (which you see if you wait long enough staring at the logo) was re-written due to the large amount of errors. I was expecting the same for this remake, but sure enough, when I waited long enough to view it, it still possessed its obvious errors like "Triforce with Power" and "Prince Darkness 'Gannon'". Interesting...
Anyway... happy playing, Ambassadors! It's still to be announced when the last 10 GameBoy games will be coming out, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Monday, August 29, 2011
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!
...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...)
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