E3 2015 in a half hour!

It's tradition. Even after, what, nine months of not posting... I can't break that!

I know I've been gone. But at least I'm here now for the most important gaming event of the year, am I right? There are indeed reasons -- pretty good reasons -- behind why I haven't posted, not the least of which is the... surprising and somewhat difficult-to-admit fact that I'm just not that interested in Zelda anymore.

There. I said it. I'm not really a Zelda super-fan anymore... :/

...But enough of that. I started writing a post talking about all that about a week ago, so maybe I'll work up the courage to post it soon. Maybe. Either way, we've got E3 to look forward to!

I'm honestly not that excited about it this year. They delayed Zelda Wii U, if you haven't heard, so that we won't be hearing anything about that in the upcoming presentation. Thus, the chances of anything Zelda-related are exceedingly slim. And there's really not much else I care about at all.

The only other game I can pray for at this point is a Kid Icarus installment, but that's EXTREMELY unlikely. Probably even less likely than a new Zelda game being announced.

Nonetheless, I'm here to watch, because, like I said, it's tradition. Even running on four hours of sleep couldn't keep me away. (No good excuse for that, really, unless you count Magic Kaito fanfics and trying to beat my Rhythm Thief scores... Those are practically my life now. XD But this is at 9 AM, to be fair, which is the latest I remember their presentation being since I started this tradition in 2010, so I don't think I have much of a right to complain.)

So here's hoping Nintendo will surprise me. Maybe they'll announce a game I never knew I wanted! We'll just have to see! And if all else fails, at least I got to enjoy this fabulous Super Mario Galaxy music before the show begins. ;)

(And maybe Sega will announce a Rhythm Thief sequel! They don't have their own booth apparently, but maybe it'll be announced with Nintendo? ...COME ON SEGA, YOU CAN DO IT! I WANT IT SO BADLY!)

Smash-Fest Experience!

Okay, I know I still need to write an E3 post. I have one that's about halfway done, but... I've been considering breaking it up into parts for Zelda Wii U, Hyrule Warriors, and Super Smash Bros., because there's so much to talk about for all of them! But we'll see.

What I want to talk about right now is Smash-Fest! I am extremely lucky that there was a Best Buy in my state that I was able to go to in order to play Smash Bros. before its release! It certainly wasn't nearby, but it was close enough that I was willing to take the time. It was definitely worth it, too. So I just wanted to kind of talk about my experience for a bit.

I went with my sister and a good friend of mine. The event started at 4, but we arrived at 2:45 or so... and I was stunned to see that there was already a huge line of people extending all the way around the side of the building. So, of course, we had to sit in the hot summer sun and regret the fact that we didn't bring umbrellas and chairs like some of the smarter people in the line. Regardless, the waiting wasn't too bad. We waited for 4 to come by starting a 20-round Mario Party DS game. (I won, by the way. Serves them right. I was in last place until round 5 or so, when I won a Battle mini-game, got a TON of coins, and bought three different Star Pipes from the shop and used them to go to the star three times to get ahead. XD)

We even ended up kind of talking to the guy in line behind us. He asked what we were playing and we told him. He ended up watching us and kind of laughing about everything that happened in the game. It was pretty fun!

Finally, at long last, at 4 pm, we were allowed in the air-conditioned store. Luckily, despite behind around the side of the building, we actually were among the first group to enter the store. ...But that's not saying much. We had another three hours of waiting ahead of us still. That's right. Three. Four hours total including the time we spent outside. That's how many people came to this Smash Bros. event. The line extended way ahead of us. The store associates weaved the line in between all the shelves of merchandise, so we couldn't even see the back of Smash Bros. monitor for at least the first hour. The TV itself was facing the wall, so we had to be something like third in line to actually watch the battles.

Eventually, after the fabulous Princess Peach won our Mario Party game, my sister left to check out the monitor and see what was going on. I then asked the guy behind us if he wanted to play Spirit Tracks with my friend and I, and one of the guys right in front of us yelled, "Did someone say Spirit Tracks?" and held up the case to the game, which he had brought with him. So we invited him to play with us as well! Unfortunately, apparently everyone forgot to charge their DS or 3DS except for me, so our battles didn't last as long as they could have, but they did get us through 45 minutes or so. My friend won the first round, but I won all the others. (She and I have a lot of experience playing multiplayer Spirit Tracks... we used to play it every week at Pokémon League, so we're both pretty good. The other two guys had never even played it before, so you can't blame them for losing.)

Halfway through our battles, my sister returned and told us, "There's a rumor going around that a woman is passing around the 3DS version of the game." One of the guys playing with us joked that that's the kind of rumor he'd spread just to make everyone excited for nothing.

However, it was kind of good news that their DS systems died pretty soon, because we were actually approaching the woman with the 3DS! She had two of them that were connected to her belt and were playing Smash Bros. Excited, we all pushed ahead to get a chance to play it.

Me and the first guy that was behind us in line were up against each other... but we got confused with the Smash Run and regular modes and realized that Smash Run wasn't multiplayer in the demo. So I told him we should just do Smash Run separately because you couldn't do that on the Wii U version that we'd eventually be trying.

So we did, and I chose Zelda. Smash Run, if somehow you haven't seen it yet, is like Kirby's Air Ride, a game for the GameCube that my sister and I played to death as kids. You collect power-ups that boost things like Defense, Jump, and so on while running around an enormous stage and fighting enemies from various franchises. Roturrets suck. I'm just gonna say that.

At one point during my Smash Run, I actually found a Cucco, but it looked like its A Link to the Past sprite, which makes me think that the 3DS version might use that kind of Cucco instead of the Ocarina of Time one shown in Wii U screenshots. Either that or Smash Run is special. Anyway, I accidentally hit it, and immediately a swarm of them appeared and killed me. I was screaming the whole time, "I HIT A CUCCO! OH NO! I'M DEAD!"

After collecting the power-ups, which I received woefully few of, we entered a regular Smash battle with the abilities we'd gained. I think the types of battles you do vary; for example, my sister got a Stamina battle at one point. But I didn't notice if there was anything different about this particular one. It took place on the Reset Bomb Forest stage, and I failed miserably. I think... Zelda's either been powered down, or maybe it's something about the 3DS that just made it hard for me to play. Or maybe I'm just not as good as I thought I was, haha! Either way, I lost. I didn't get a chance to see my score -- I passed it off as soon as the match was over. But I was at least third or fourth, because two of the CPUs -- both Pikachu, by the way -- got into a Sudden Death. I think the other CPU was Fox.

For the record, all of Zelda's moves seemed the same, except her Down-B. That's now a Phantom. And uh, I never used it. Partially because I forgot about it (I'm so used to never transforming into Sheik!) and partially because in the Practice Stage that I waited in momentarily while initially trying to battle that other guy, I didn't like it very much. It seemed slow and had a delay before you could take it out again. It didn't even appear to do that much damage. Maybe I'll figure out some use for it when I have the chance to get my hands on the real game and experiment a bit, but for now, I didn't like it much.

After this, it was another long period of waiting. We talked with the guys in front of us about a variety of topics -- Zelda games (especially The Wind Waker), StarFox games (which actually convinced me to buy StarFox 64 3D a few weeks later), Portal (and how much I suck at it), and even Doctor Who (although I have never seen that show so I contributed very little to that conversation). It was quite fun, and before we knew it, we were close to the Wii U. And to our surprise, what did we find there?

Another sales associate with a 3DS! We got the chance to play the 3DS Super Smash Bros. for a SECOND time! This particular version ONLY allowed Smash Run and multiplayer was not available, so I was forced to do it for the second time. This time around, I chose to use a new character. Rosalina, who I'd been wanting to try for quite a while, wasn't there in the 3DS version, so I went with the Wii Fit Trainer.

Again, it was just basic Smash Run. I fought a whole lot of Koffings, which frustratingly did a ton of damage when I didn't kill them in time. But I just did better in general, and when time was up for collecting our power ups, we entered a battle where we all started at 300% damage on the Animal Island stage from Animal Crossing. And please, extended 300% damage battles are my specialty. The CPUs didn't stand a chance. Despite having never played as the Wii Fit Trainer before, I spammed the heck out of my Smash Attacks and won the battle.

Now it was time for the main event, the thing we'd waited in line for four hours to see. The Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. 4!

Rosalina WAS on the roster of the Wii U version, so I played as her. I don't remember who my friends chose. I believe my sister was Mega Man, but I don't know who my friend was. But I do know that the fourth guy who played with us, some slightly younger kid that we did not know, was Sonic.

I convinced everyone to fight on the Skyloft course, and the battle began to a wonderful electric guitar cover of Ballad of the Goddess. I don't remember much of it, except that I never really figured out how to control Luma, haha. It wasn't really hard; I just didn't have experience with it. I kept getting confused as how to throw Luma and then bring him back. It's B to throw, but I kept hitting side B instead for whatever reason.

And that's what threw me off. Much to my shock, myself and Sonic got into a Sudden Death at the end, even though I felt like I'd done absolutely nothing throughout the battle since I didn't understand Rosalina at all. And I got it into my head that I'd be super creative and kill Sonic with Luma. So I tried my hardest to throw him, but I couldn't figure it out, kept hitting the wrong buttons, and eventually... I threw him in the air and Sonic took me out while I was stunned.

Oh well. Can't win everything, huh? At least I won once with Wii Fit Trainer! And second's not too bad...

We also got free stuff from the event! They gave everyone coupons and stickers, and then you were allowed to choose one other object. There were Bravely Default AR cards (I wish they had been Kid Icarus: Uprising instead), Mario Kart 8 flags, and some other small knick-knacks. I took a Super Smash Bros. pin and my sister grabbed some Kirby erasers. Pretty neat!

I really loved the new Smash Bros. I can't say I'm a huge fan of Smash Run, unfortunately; something about it just doesn't really appeal to me. I loved Air Ride and Subspace Emissary, but... I just had a lot of trouble with it for some reason. Enemies were hard to hit, platforms were hard to reach, and I was very lost. I came across some kind of bonus room at one point when I was Wii Fit Trainer, too, but I think I died there... Anyway. Maybe I'm just not used to the new physics and everything in the game, though, so I won't be too quick to judge it.

The other thing that really threw me off that I forgot to mention sooner is that the shield and the grab are now on different buttons. I've always used the L-trigger for both of these actions; I've just gotten used to it for some reason. As a result, I was very confused in my first battle as Zelda when my character kept making the grabbing motion instead of dodging. You may even contribute this confusion to part of the reason I lost that battle so badly. It took me at least halfway through to realize that they'd put the shield on the R-trigger, and grab was L. I was completely unused to it, so I had a lot of trouble dodging. Even after figuring it out, I would instinctively hit the L-trigger to dodge. This was slightly better on the Wii U, because there were both the L trigger and the ZL. One was grab, and the other was shield. That wasn't as hard to figure out, though I did frequently forget which was which still. But at least I didn't have to use the right side anymore; both actions could be found on the left.

Regardless, I am immensely happy that I had the privilege to attend this event. I'm very excited for the new Smash Bros., and I can't wait to play it on my own time and get more used to the new mechanics!

I'll see you in my next post, which will hopefully be about E3! Stay tuned and have a great night!

E3 2014 - Super Smash Bros., Zelda Wii U, Hyrule Warriors, and more!

January 14th, 2016: This post was written back in 2014 in response to E3 at the time. However, I never ended up publishing it simply because I never finished the Hyrule Warriors section of the post. With the new Breath of the Wild trailer from the Nintendo Switch presentation, I wanted to revist what I thought about the original trailer, which led me back to this post. I figured that despite the title not matching the content of the post, I might as well publish this, since it has some fun reactions to Palutena and BotW's first reveals. Everything below is exactly as it was written back then; I didn't bother editing anything.

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Here I am, as promised! I expect that you're here because you either clicked on this page by accident, thought you stumbled upon something useful, or you are interested in hearing my opinion! If you are in one of the first two groups, you are sorely mistaken, and you might as well leave now. (But... but you can stay if you want! That'd be awesome!)

So, as you know from my earlier post, I was very, very hyped up for E3. I was expecting great things from Nintendo. Great things! The best since E3 2011, I proudly proclaimed! But did they deliver?

Short answer: not really. I was kind of disappointed.

BUT... I highly suggest you still read the long answer. Because my gosh, this WAS one of the better E3 years, in my opinion. Not as good as 2011. But I think second place suits it well out of the E3 years I've bothered to watch (which are 2010 to present). So it's not bad at all, but I was definitely over-hyped.

Let's start with Smash Bros.! I was strongly hoping for some cool new villain reveals... like, maybe a Zelda villain reveal? Ganondorf hasn't been announced, so all we have are Sheik, Zelda, Toon Link, and Link. And that's kind of like only two characters if you really think about it. (Even if none of them really play the same...) I really would have loved to see something new for everyone's favorite franchise.

Alas, it was not to be... BUT WE GOT PALUTENA WOOOOO! ...Yes. I was so happy when Palutena showed up. To give you an idea, here's how Skype was just after Reggie said they were wrapping up their digital event (with only a few minor typo corrections -- such as changing "It" to "Pit" -- and removals of irrelevant comments):

[9:41:34 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: We still didn't get all the info I wanted. ;(

[9:41:45 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: I wanted new Smash Bros. characters

[9:41:56 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Real characters that aren't a freaking Mii

[9:42:16 AM] ♑odd300♑: One more little teaser........

[9:42:20 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Metroid or StarFox

[9:42:24 AM] ♑odd300♑: Nopeee

*Palutena appears on screen*

[9:42:27 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: PALUTENA

[9:42:29 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: PALUTENA

[9:42:34 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: YES PLEASE!

[9:42:37 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: YES YES YES!

[9:42:41 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: YEAH!

[9:42:45 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: PALUTENA!

[9:42:55 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: PLEASE PALUTENA I LOVE YOU

[9:43:12 AM] ♑odd300♑: Pit, you suck.

[9:43:14 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: OMG PIT AND LINK FIGHTING AND PALUTENA

[9:43:22 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: ALL MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS

[9:43:43 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: YESSSSSS

[9:43:47 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: SH

[9:43:53 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Sh?

[9:44:10 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: YOUR FACE SUCKS

[9:44:26 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Auto-reticle. XD

[9:44:40 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Dude Mega Laser is my thing bro

[9:45:04 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Dark Pit?

[9:45:08 AM] ♑odd300♑: Well then.

[9:45:10 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Lol okay

[9:46:28 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: I'm so happy

[9:46:34 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: I'm sooooo happy I love Palutenaaaaaa

Yeah. Heroine of Time (with the odd symbols) is obviously me.

I was hoping for Palutena to appear in Super Smash Bros. after all of this time! I'm not surprised in the slightest -- I thought we had pretty good chances, especially considering the very realistic supposed leak of her as a character back in January, and the other small indications, like the Pseudo-Palutena trophy, or the removal of Palutena from Pit's final smash. Also, Pac Man and Miis are characters, but I don't care. Aside from Zelda characters, I just wanted Palutena, and I got Palutena. I'm content as far as Smash Bros. goes.

I still would have liked more, though... the figurines were cool, but I wanted some info about what they're planning on doing specially for the Wii U version. The 3DS has... Smash Run? Is that what it's called? And that's an exclusive to that console. But the Wii U, so far, has not really been announced to have anything.

I also watched the whole Smash Invitational. I was rooting for Wii Fit Trainer but she didn't win. D: Ah, well, Zero Suit Samus won, and I was kind of cheering for her, too, but I liked the guy playing Kirby more than the guy playing Samus...

Anyway. How about we move on to Zelda Wii U?

Now, I wanted a trailer. A full trailer. Something gorgeous. I was expecting something mind-blowing, something beautiful... something I could rewatch a thousand times over and enjoy it every time, spot something new every time. Like the Skyward Sword trailers, or even the Hyrule Warriors trailers.

The Zelda Wii U presentation started off beautifully. They showed us a still image of the background -- and my breath almost left me. It was... so, so, SO incredible.

My first thought was immediately Skyrim. Skyrim has the large, swooping open fantasy world. The hut behind Link (or whoever that is -- we'll get to that) definitely gave me a Skyrim feel, as well as the mountains behind him. For anyone who plays Skyrim, they know JUST how often mountains get in your way. This is what I wanted. This is exactly what EVERYONE wanted! An open-world Zelda game! As long as they don't sacrifice story for this... this could be the best Zelda yet!

And then the actual footage they had planned began playing... and I think everyone had a rather similar reaction to me. But I'll let my Skype conversation give you an idea of everything once again:

[9:22:06 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: :D

[9:22:15 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: What

[9:22:19 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Why is there a robot

[9:22:34 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: OKAY WHO IS THAT

[9:22:41 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: IS HE WEARING BLUE

[9:22:44 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: WHY

[9:22:45 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: WHAT

[9:22:51 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: HE LOOKS LIKE A GIRL

[9:23:10 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: He looks like older TWW Link in his freaking pajamas

[9:23:28 AM] Her◎ine ◎f Time: Dangit that was nothing Nintendo. XD

Yes, these comments could pretty much sum up the entirety of the reactions of the Zelda fandom.

I'll address each comment separately. The robot was really, really strange. We haven't seen very many things like it in The Legend of Zelda. I don't necessarily mind adding in some giant robots or anything, but it was still kind of surprising. And then... the character on the horse showed up. Of course, up until now, we were expecting our typical green-garbed hero... but instead he pulls back the cloak to reveal a head completely devoid of a hat, with hair much longer than Link's normally is (except in the Ocarina of Time manga -- that's actually EXACTLY what it looked like from behind in the Ocarina of Time manga), and wearing completely unfamiliar clothes. And Link... he looked different, too! He was wielding some kind of peculiar bow as well. It looked like the Hero's Bow, but then it did some... weird mechanical thing that caused an explosion. And his clothes were BLUE. As I pointed out, he strongly resembled The Wind Waker Link and his clothes, and, upon reviewing the footage, I think I'm reminded of Skyward Sword Link's outfit as well. Never mind that, all in all he looked NOTHING like our favorite hero. It was very odd.

Let me also point out that that horse does NOT look like Epona up close. I've rewatched this footage several times and I'm relatively sure that's not Epona.

I'm all open to change, of course. I do consider myself somewhat traditional, but hey, if Nintendo wants to try something new, I'll probably buy it anyway if it has Zelda on the cover. But I'm looking for a Zelda experience when I buy a Zelda game. And allowing you to play as customized characters... doesn't sound very Zelda.

Then again, neither does an open-world anymore, but oh my goodness am I excited to see where that goes!

Also they didn't give me a good picture of Link to put as my header on my blog or use for a signature/avatar on Zelda Dungeon, dangit. I don't even know if that's Link. I can't use his/her picture anywhere.

And this "trailer"'s biggest flaw is that it's so short. Shame on you, Nintendo. You supposedly had this ready last year. You could have shown us more! It was majorly disappointing.

Next... Hyrule Warriors!

All Aboard the Hyrule Warriors Hype Train!

I am so excited for Hyrule Warriors now.

If you don't follow Nintendo news, it's important to tell you that a HUGE flood of Hyrule Warriors info came last month, including screenshots, artwork, and story descriptions. And man... do they know how to hype an audience!

My last post for Hyrule Warriors, in all honesty, was an afterthought. I just needed my monthly post, and I was going to say Happy New Year, and I decided to mention Hyrule Warriors rather briefly just because it happened to be there. The first trailer was pretty cool, but it didn't show us very much. In fact, Hyrule Warriors kind of faded from memory after its initial announcement. Only a few weeks ago, I was marveling that no one seemed to be talking about it. No one seemed excited for it, and no new news had been released in quite a while. As a matter of fact, the lack of interest in the game was beginning to make me concerned that it could become a Japan-only release, especially when we heard that its Japanese release would be August 15th, with no word on an American or European date.

And then May came along.

My mind has been thoroughly blown, dear readers, and it seems that Hyrule Warriors is going to be far more of an experience than I was expecting. Back in December, it appeared to be your typical hack-and-slash game that just had a few Zelda characters, locations, and items involved. But now... rather than being a Dynasty Warriors game with Zelda elements, it seems like a Zelda game with Dynasty Warriors gameplay.

Let's start with the story. I really wasn't expecting much of one, but it seems they've actually put a bit of effort into it. We know very little at this point, but we WERE introduced to a few of our main characters, including the new villains. Cia seems to be the biggest reveal, as her design is... well, not Zelda-like at all! And I'm immensely excited for her.

According to her character description, she once guarded the three pieces of the Triforce. However, eventually dark forces invaded her heart and she became evil. Everywhere's been saying that it was because of her jealousy over Zelda. But I haven't found an official source that says that, so...

Regardless, it is true that her background seems to imply that there will be jealousy. According to translations of her character description on the official website, she's in love with Link. And I love this. So much. I've heard a few people complaining about her design and that it reveals a bit too much, but I think it's actually perfect for her character. As a girl myself, I see nothing wrong with her design, ESPECIALLY if her personality is meant to be seductive. Goodness, I can't WAIT. She just sounds amazing. I'm so eager to see what they do with her relationship with Link. We've never had anything even remotely like her in the Zelda series, so I'm interested in seeing what they do with her.

We also have Valga and Wizro, two other villains that are apparently her minions or something. Valga looks like Volvagia, which could either be really stupid or insanely awesome, depending on how they handle that connection. I'm kind of wary if they're planning on going the route of having Valga actually be Volvagia... that sounds like it could cause all kinds of continuity issues or even just end up sounding fake and forced. But... but... if they do it right, and put effort into it... I can't imagine how amzing that would be. It would be really neat to explore the background of one of the most memorable bosses of Ocarina of Time a bit more. (And not anything like that stupid backstory that the manga gave him. I know I like the official manga, but that whole chapter was pretty darn forced. You'll know what I'm talking about if you've read it.) Wizro, on the other hand, was apparently a ring given form by Cia. I'm... not fully sure what to think of that at this point. I think I'm going to hold off on really commenting on him.

Of course, we also got more information about our heroes. Yeah. Heroes. That's plural. Dynasty Warriors is famous for having multiple campaigns and many playable characters, and you could expect no less from this beautiful Zelda spin-off. Currently, we have two playable characters unveiled. There's Link, to the surprise of no one in the universe, but then there's also... Impa!

Oh my gosh. We get to play as Impa now. I must say, that was a genius move on Tecmo Koei's part. I cannot think of another Zelda character except Zelda herself that is more worthy of being playable than Impa. She's been in plenty of games and has always given off this warrior vibe (except in those games where she's an old woman -- but we can ignore those and focus on the ninja versions). Now we REALLY get to see her in action!

I have to say, though, the one thing I thought upon hearing all this Zelda news is that this sounds completely and utterly like a fanfiction. And I've read a lot of fanfictions; I think I know what I'm talking about. A lot of fanfics will alter the backgrounds of the characters to fit their settings in unorthodox ways, and Hyrule Warriors has done just that, as they've now given very unique backgrounds to Link and Impa. Instead of being some nobody kid from a small village, Link is a knight-in-training. On top of that, he already has the Triforce of Courage, and it sounds like it's an important part of his character -- meaning people are probably aware of it and its importance. This is very interesting; it almost feels like we're starting in the middle of a Zelda game. And I couldn't even begin to tell you how many fanfics use that exact same set-up, haha. Impa, too, is now the captain of the guard. It's a surprisingly fitting position for her. Her importance to the whole of Hyrule has never really been stressed in a Zelda game before, so this is new, but due to her commanding demeanor and closeness to the princess, this makes PERFECT sense. Fanfictions will do things like this all the time, too -- taking an established character and giving them a new role based on their personalities and relationships in the official games.

Oh, and did I mention there's a love triangle between Link, Zelda, and the villain? Please, if that doesn't scream fanfiction at you, you've likely never heard the term.

We haven't gotten nearly as many updates on how the gameplay will go, unfortunately, since we haven't had any new gameplay footage, just screenshots. But some of the images have showcased absolutely gorgeous new moves that could add some complexity to the game. Interestingly enough, I actually do kind of like games with destruction every once and a while. I find Link's Crossbow Training surprisingly entertaining. So if they establish that kind of gameplay with a decent story, this could become of the best Zelda games -- and it's not even a real Zelda game.

Oh, and... multiplayer! Now isn't THAT exciting? We've had some limited multiplayer experiences for Zelda in the past, such as Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures, and the DS games, but maybe we'll finally get something concrete! ...I mean, I kind of doubt it, since they said one player would be using the TV and one would be using the Game Pad, or something to that extent... but still. There's potential there.

Nintendo's E3 Direct is coming up on June 10th at 9 AM PT, and we've already gotten a confirmation from Hyrule Warriors' official Twitter that there will be a new trailer shown there. I'm certainly hoping we'll get some news on Zelda's role in the game. For now she just sounds like a boring damsel in distress, but maybe she can become playable if we're lucky? Or maybe we'll be surprised by some more unexpected playable characters! I'm so hyped up for E3 now. We'll not only get Hyrule Warriors and Smash Bros., but also the new Zelda for Wii U. This will quite likely be the best year since 2011, Zelda's 25th anniversary.

I'll see you all on June 10th! I'll be posting at least once or twice then as tradition demands, so stay tuned!

Looking forward to E3 2014!

I ruined my record today. I had two different posts that I wanted to write today, but I got distracted by Mario Kart and didn't look at the clock until 12:10 AM.

It's June. There will be no May 2014 post ever. Because I blew it. So now I can't say that I've had one post per month since 2009. I am surprisingly not as depressed about that as I probably should be...

Well, um... It's actually 1:40 AM right now. I was trying to finish a post, but I really have very little motivation right now. I probably should have started this earlier in the week when I was still fangirling over Hyrule Warriors, but I didn't soooo...

I'll give you guys a post tomorrow, alright? Well, not tomorrow, but in the morning, when I wake up. I'm too tired to trust myself to write a quality post right now. (I might end up deleting this post if I do.) And hey, we'll still have at least two E3 posts later in the month! Oh, yes. That's something to be excited about, right? Nintendo's press conference will be June 10th, and, shockingly, it's June 1st now! The summer seems to be passing so quickly. We've got PLENTY to look forward to at E3 this year -- but I'm going to talk more about that both in my later post of day, and in my "X amount of hours until E3" post.

I'll see you guys (guy? It's really only you, miniluigi. XD) later!

E3 2013 Wishes Fulfilled and Unfulfilled

I promised you a post later in the day... and here it is. A bit later than you were probably expecting, but it's here.

So, yeah. We had Nintendo Direct today. For some reason, the website I was using crashed, so I ended up using their Australian website to watch it, but it still worked. I spent most of the time chatting in the Shoutbox of Zelda Dungeon throughout the presentation, but then some other guy who lived in Japan started spoiling everything because his live feed was somehow ahead of ours and I had to leave until after. XD

It was better than last year; I can tell you that already. No matter what, it was better than last year. Why? BECAUSE WE HAD SOMETHING BESIDES MARIO, THAT'S WHY.

The presentation started talking about the upcoming Pokémon games with a huge shock: there's a new type of Pokémon. Fairy type. I heard some speculation about that, but I was surprised to see it actually come true. Then they talked about Super Mario World 3D and Mario Kart 8, and I think a bit of a new Donkey Kong Country...

...But this is a Zelda blog, right? So we don't care about that stuff. What I was really looking for came soon enough, though.

A new The Wind Waker HD Trailer. A new Super Smash Bros. Trailer. And then... finally, after the presentation was over, a trailer -- and the official title -- for A Link to the Past 2, AKA Zelda 3DS.

Let's start with The Wind Waker HD, shall we?



That trailer doesn't show it, but they talked about some new features that they're adding as well, one of them being a faster traveling system if you hold A on the boat. Seems convenient, and I'm very glad it's being added for the people who complain about how slow sailing is. Even though the slow speed never REALLY bothered me before, I'll probably use this fast travel thing.

Then they showed... the Tingle Bottle.

Alright, so, when I first saw it, I kind of missed something, and only noticed its features. It can be used in game to send a message to Miiverse with a photo from the Pictobox attached. You toss it into the ocean and it disappears. I actually thought that was pretty cool to begin with. You know? Not a bad idea. Not like it's overwhelmingly awesome, but it's interesting...

And then I realized it was replacing the Tingle Tuner.

NO, NINTENDO. I WANTED THAT TINGLE TUNER IN WWHD VERY BADLY. VERY, VERRRRY BADLY.

You can't even 100% the game without it! Ugggh!

Well, that kind of annoyed me. But... *sigh* whatever...

Next up was Super Smash Bros. 4.

And my goodness, we were certainly in for a surprise.




FREAKING VILLAGER.

THE FREAKING VILLAGER

FROM ANIMAL CROSSING

IS IN MY SMASH BROS. GAME

I just... like...

Wow.

Hahahaha, oh, but that's not the best part. I mean, there are returning characters as well, and there's Megaman, but the above trailer still fails to show THIS:



THE WII FIT TRAINER.

I'm not joking, though: I'm going to play as her. If I don't feel like playing as my usual Zelda characters for once, I'm playing as her. Srsly.

And what about Link himself? He... well, I'm not a huge fan of his look, in all honesty. Just look at this:

I don't even know what's happening to Link in this picture... but I don't like it. Something seems just... wrong. About his face, or... I don't know! But he looks awful in that picture. He's some sort of combination of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, and it's strange...

But, then, sometimes he looks cool:

 

That looks good to me! But the above one... eh...

Well, anyway, it doesn't matter, hahaha. I'm excited regardless. I'll probably buy both the 3DS and Wii U versions regardless. XD

Lastly... Zelda 3DS.

Or should I say... A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS! *gasp*

Yep. The new Zelda game is going to be known as The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Here's the trailer:



That makes its acronym ALBW, which I've been repeating over and over today because it's such an awesome acronym that I can't stand it. XD

Anyway... I'm actually far more excited than I was last time I talked about this! I think it looks interesting! My hope was that I'd get some cutscenes, or at least some artwork... and as you can see, I didn't get any cutscenes... however...

LOOOOOOOOOOK

LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL THAT IS

OH MY GOODNESS

IT'S SO AMAZING

I... I was sooo happy to see that image. It's an INCREDIBLE piece of artwork. I can deal with that. It's not what I wanted, but in some ways, it's better. It also confirms the return of the Master Sword and Hylian Shield... and that bracelet that Link has... maybe it's important?

I loved it so much that I made a new avatar for Zelda Dungeon using it. HoT stands for Heroine of Time, my username, in case you didn't know. ^^

So, yes. We didn't get any Zelda Wii U, sadly, but it's not like that was ABSOLUTELY expected. In fact, I kind of wasn't expecting it, but I was hoping we'd get lucky with a piece of artwork or something simple, you know?

Ah, well, E3, I think, was pretty darn amazing. I'm excited for these upcoming games and I can't WAIT to get a Wii U system... I hope you guys enjoyed E3, and let's hope there's more coming!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

I always have an E3 in X amount of time post. Can't break tradition now!

So, here we are. This time, twenty minutes until E3 2013.

Ugggh. It's sooo early right now. XD The previous two years, I've only have to awaken at eight or so, because E3's been at nine. This year it's six. Why? I don't know. They just hate me and want me to sleep for only five hours, I guess.

What's that? It's MY fault I stayed up until one in the morning reading the Skyrim wiki? Nooo, shhhh, I know what I'm talking about...

So! Yep. This year, as I said in my last post, I'm hoping for Zelda 3DS AKA A Link to the Past 2 -- and what I really want to see of it are some CUTSCENES, and hopefully some official art or at least a better image of Link so I can make a signature with it, haha. And, of course, there's The Wind Waker HD, and it'd be interesting to see a bit more of that, and the big one: the next Super Smash Bros.

That's what I'm most excited for this year, unless Nintendo has even BIGGER plans for Zelda on the Wii U? Maaaaaybeee...?

Alright. As always, you can watch E3 at e3.nintendo.com. (EDIT: The site kind of freaked out when the time came, so actually watch it here: http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendodirect.) I'm hoping it'll work on my iPad, but it seems to me I had trouble last year, so I'd better hurry and get on a computer soon. Only fifteen minutes left now...

I'll give another post with my thoughts afterward. (OMG, that's going to be three posts in the month of June! That will be... the most since last June! XD)

Enjoy E3, everyone! Maybe I'll be able to go to some demos later today, too, since they're hosting some at Best Buy. That'd be cool. Anyway, see you guys later!

This is sad.

I have no excuse. I seriously forgot.

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

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

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

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

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

Gods. I can't believe this even happened.

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

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!

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.)

My Skyward Sword Experience

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

*gasp*

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

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

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

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

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

Annnyway?

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

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

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

Vigorous nodding. "YES YES YES!"


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

...

Moment of silence.

...

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

...

...

And then my sister speaks up.

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

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

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

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

You, Mister GameStop Employee, are evil.

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

THIS LOG. It's totally evil.

For whatever reason, I completely skipped over this log.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THAT STUPID LOG!!!

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...OH!

Silent Realm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neeeexxxxtt...?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, I'm going to keep mentioning that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...BUT THERE WAS NOTHING THERE.

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

Well, this happened.

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

So, yeah. What next?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

[E3 2011] Our New Bad Guy?

Remember that guy who was first seen in the March GDC Skyward Sword trailer? The guy who looks a little like Vaati? ...Well, he's not Vaati. He's Demon Lord Ghirahim!

Interesting gameplay above. I like noticing all the little things - like, that freaky new Heart Container... what the heck was that? It was... weird. Not like a Heart Container at all. XD And Link's reaction when he picks up the Heart Container. That's one thing I love about Twilight Princess that no other game so far has really done it for me - Link's facial expressions. Of course, Wind Waker had MAJOR emphasis on facial expressions, but TP Link's are just more... realistic. So far, I'm loving that aspect of Skyward Sword, too. I thought I wouldn't like it so much when I first saw its graphics, but now I'm liking it.

So. Demon Lord Ghirahim, eh? I wonder if he's the main villain?

[E3 2011] New Ocarina of Time Trailer

This time, it's a remake of the original Nintendo 64 trailer. YES! I loved that trailer! :P



Oh, gods, I want this game SO badly now. -.-

[E3 2011] New Character Artwork - Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time 3D

Skyward Sword






Ocarina of Time 3DS






Now THIS is what I've been waiting for. I'm going to go and make a new header now, as well as a new signature and avatar for Wizard101 Central with that ADORABLE SS Zelda render! XD Of course, it looks like OoT 3DS Zelda is really cute too. :) But I think for the header, I'm going to use the picture of Link on Epona. That's a good one. Perhaps I should make a Skyward Sword header, too.