The Legend of Zelda Series

[Wolf Kanno]

Link to the Past - Doing Misery Mire and came pretty damn close to finishing the dungeon but I was rushing through it and took too many unnecessary hits, resulting in me using up my fairies and getting killed off by the boss before I realized I had no more fairies. Oh well, the dungeon isn't terribly hard, at least not compared to the damn Ice Palace. I also picked up the Cane of Byrna, but I'm still missing three heart pieces.

There's definitely a Heart piece in the Turtle Rock Dungeon, plus one just before it too. Also, I always miss the one halfway up Death Mountain too where you to jump off the cliff to a doorway.

I think I got the one from dropping down. I'm worried I may have missed one in a treasure chest in a previous dungeon (like the ice one...ew...). I'll double check I guess.

[Wolf Kanno]

Found the last two pieces. Besides Turtle Rock I was missing two really easy to get pieces from Karaikko Village. As usual, I was so focused trying to grab the hard ones (like the ones from the mini-games) that I missed the easier ones.

Anyway, took down Misery Mire and completed Turtle Rock, which is still one of the harder dungeons in this game. All that is left to do is upgrade the Sword and Arrows a final time, and then Ganon's Tower. I've decided I'm going to fight Ganon fairly this time around. No screwing with him with the Bug Net, no using the Magic Cape to no sell all of his attacks while I beat him to a bloody pulp, none of that.

[Wolf Kanno]

Zelda II - Gained another level and got thrashed by the boss of the Island Palace again. My main issue is that I can't seem to reach him without being on my last life with little to no magic left. The biggest factor being that the area just before the boss involves breaking through some blocks to take one of three paths to his room. In each path is one or two Iron Knuckles. The correct path involves one with a Red and Blue Iron Knuckle that are separated by a wall. I only need to fight the red one, but the blue one has sword beams and can attack me through the wall. They work together as well, so the red tries to push me back to keep the Blue one on the screen so he can attack me, and his attacks destroy my health. Yet, I'd probably take just as much damage trying to kill the Blue one first. Did I mention that my sword beams can't hurt them so there is no way to snipe them?

Majora's Mask - Took a break from the main quest to finally complete the Kafei quest. Talk about leaving it to the last minute. The quest ends almost during the final hour of the three days. It was a cool story but way too time consuming at times. I still need to do it two more times to get the fifth bottle (which I'm debating about since I have four of them and they are rather useless in this game) and getting another of the masks. I only need three more masks to complete the requirement needed to get the Fierce Deity Mask.

Link to the Past - Done and done, honestly Ganon is nastier during the second phase of the fight where the Cape and Cane are useless because he starts turning invisible until you light the torches. The fight can be pretty frustrating, but not because Ganon can kill you easily, rather he tends to knock you off the platform and force you to fight him all over again, including his first phase where he's just teleporting and trying to hit you with his trident and fire keese. Still I beat him down without too much hassle, and soaked in the ending, remembering why this is one of my favorite entries in the series. I loved the Wishing Well to get Bomb and Arrow increases and the Gold and Silver Axe quest to get a lot of the upgrades in this game. The dungeons are all intricate and have at least one or two cool elements that keep them memorable and I enjoy the world and setting, even if its still pretty basic compared to how much the later entries expand on it. Its also interesting to not how this game introduces some legacy elements of the series, yet still holds onto elements from the early installments. The most obvious being how beating Ganon has reversed between LttP and OoT. In LttP, Link needs the Master Sword to stun Ganon, because like the first entry, only the Silver/Light arrows can actually harm him. In OoT and going forward, its the opposite with the Light Arrows needed to stun him because only the master sword can hurt him.

With LttP out of the way, I'm charging up my DS to get back to work on Spirit Tracks. I've come to the conclusion that the Missing Hero Timeline is the weakest game-wise of the split timeline, with the Fallen Hero Timeline having all of the best entries followed by the Child Timeline.

So which Timeline do you feel has the best collection of games?

[Galuf]

OoT MM TP

[Depression Moon]

Hmm. Maybe I should attempt to finish Oracle of Seasons.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

Zelda II - Island Palace cleared, as I figured, just reaching the son of a bitch with an extra life was enough to finally overtake him. I was also a bit annoyed to discover that the level I gained in my last playthrough was lost because I didn't save when I thought I did. So I may grind another level or two before continuing on. Ran into Tektites and I don't think I've ever feared them as much as I do in this game. They're fast, hit hard, and only the spell that lets your sword shoot fire can actually hurt them.

Spirit Tracks - Forgot that I quit playing this after I finished a really annoying boss and was promptly killed shortly after before saving. So I beat him again to complete the second temple in the game. Basically this boss used both fire and ice magic, and the trick was to use the boomerang to grab one element and then hit him while he was trying to use the opposing element. He has several phases that are more and more annoying but the real issue with this fight is the controls. You have to draw a path for the boomerang to go with the bottom screen, but the fight doesn't pause to do this, to make matter worse, you have to use the bottom screen to do even simple things like swing your sword and move. So using the boomerang leaves me a sitting duck for his attacks. Two health potions later I beat him again, got some Bombs in a shop, and returned to the Spirit Tower to get the map of the next location.

Honestly, the Spirit Tower (where Princess Zelda actually does something) is the best part of the game. The puzzles are more ingenious and many of the games gimmicks actually come together really well. The normal dungeons are painfully easy. in comparison. This section involved lighting torches to light my path and ghost enemies that avoid the light. The Phantom Armors in this section have flaming swords, so finally acquiring one through Zelda makes her super useful and a torch that helps light up the maze of a dungeon with several pitfalls. It was rather satisfying to say the least.

Majora's Mask - Focused on getting masks and heart containers. I acquired the All Night Mask, Keaton Mask, Postman Hat, and the Gibdo Mask. I only need one more before I get the Fierce Diety Mask. I also only have two people left on the Bomber Notebook to complete, Kafei's Mother and the Old Lady at the Inn. Beyond that, I did make some strides in the next story section of Ikana Canyon, but I'm holding back until I finish up some more side quests before continuing on.

[CimminyCricket]

Currently playing Ocarina of Time. This is the first time I've played it and so far it's actually a pretty fun game. I'm not a big fan of 3D Zelda titles (despite my favorite being Wind Waker), so it takes a little bit of getting used to.

A Link to the Past was the first one that I played, but I haven't played it in years.

For the longest Link's Awakening was my favorite (it's now been relegated to 2nd favorite, which still isn't bad) followed by the Oracle series.

Oracle of Seasons was the first one that I beat (with Link's Awakening following shortly thereafter). I own Oracle of Ages, but I haven't played it too much. They both pretty much just stay in their boxes at this point and I'm tempted to just get digital copies for my 3DS.

I've played Twilight Princess on the Gamecube, but when I went to play on the Wii (backwards campatibility for the win), my data got corrupted when I tried to go back on GC, so I never finished it.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

Zelda II - Reached the next two towns, obtained the Reflect Spell by finding the kidnapped child and rescuing him from a Lizfos. Gained an extra level, but I'm having issues figuring out the requirement for the upward strike. I found the town the Knight who teaches it resides in, but I can't figure out what I need to do to get him to do so. I also found the next dungeon but I'm holding off for a moment.

Majora's Mask - Finished the Bomber's Notebook, obtained the last two bottles, gained an extra heart, finished the Deku Salesman trading quest and even toyed around in the abandoned Well, which seems to have something important in it and finally makes the bottles useful. Its a pretty clever mini-dungeon, Gibdos (they're like mummies) guard various doorways and a mask I have allows me to talk to them. In order to get them to open the door, I have to give them something like Deku Seeds, Fish, bugs, and hot spring water. Once they get what they want they open the door for me and I proceed to the next set. I'll tackle it more seriously in the next cycle. I'm not sure if I'm going to go for the remaining hearts, I'll see how the next boss battle goes but so far this might be the easiest Zelda game in terms of combat. Which makes the combat heavy and puzzle light Zelda II to feel like a huge contrast to this game which is definitely more puzzle focus.

[Randy]

Currently playing Ocarina of Time. This is the first time I've played it

Play the 3DS version! Much superior.

[CimminyCricket]

Currently playing Ocarina of Time. This is the first time I've played it

Play the 3DS version! Much superior.

That's the version I'm playing! I don't have time for a whole lot of non-mobile gaming, so when they release games for the PSVita and the 3DS I can't help but pick them up to play them.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

Should have done this yesterday actually.

Zelda 2 - Finally obtained the Rising Strike attack. The trick was using the Jump spell to reach the rooftops and then I entered the Knights house like Santa Claus. I also explored a bit and found the next dungeon after the current one I'm suppose to be dealing with. Anyway, I died screwing around exploring and decided to cut my losses.

Majora's Mask - Took a bit of prep work byut the Mirror Shield is obtained. I also explored Ikana Castle and have a rough idea of what I need to do next which involves going back to town to get a Goron Big Bomb. I also completed another heart piece, so yay! Unfortunately, it got pretty late by this point so I saved with the owl and will try to complete the Ikana Castle portion in this cycle. I'm on the morning of Day 2.

Spirit Tracks - Got the map to the Ocean area, and encountered Linebeck III, grandson of Linebeck from Phantom Hourglass, and he's just as much of a self-centered ass as his ancestor. Anway, it turns out the bridge leading to the Ocean Zone is out, and Linebeck needs me to fetch the bridge builder I encountered back in the snow region. So I go pick him up, and this Train Otaku warned me that the carpenter is apparently a real stickler for proper procedure. Turns out that all of these train signs I've been blowing up with the cannon are meant to be guidelines on how to drive. So I'm going to have to follow all of them in order to get this guy to the proper place... So seeing how this will most likely be a headache, I saved and called it quits for the night.

While I intend for Skyward Sword to be my next game after Majora's Mask, part of me is thinking maybe I should play Twilight Princess again instead.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

Zelda 2 - Got quite a bit done actually. I attempted the fourth palace and while I died like a little bitch, I did manage to acquire the temples treasure, the Hover Boots that let me walk on certain plots of water. With them, I was able to acquire the third set of heart and magic containers, as well as another level!

Majora's Mask - Finished the Ikana Castle and attained the final song. I also activated the save point in front of entrance to the Stone Temple. The Ghost King was kind of a pain in the ass because his recovery rate from being hit with the sun is ridiculously fast, and I ended up beating him down by trading blows with jumping attacks instead. Really hated the controls for this fight as trying to get the right angle to hit the enemies with the mirror shield was a bit of a chore. Considering how this last song works, and the stuff I had to do to reach the entrance, I'm not really looking forward to this dungeon. Still, I only need the Giant's Mask to complete the collection so...

Spirit Tracks - Well, this little train escort mission actually turned out to be much easier than anticipated. The way it worked was that the passenger mood would change depending on your actions with the train, when you did something wrong their mood would get grimmer but doing good things improved it, so it was quite easy to keep him pretty happy once I reached the destination. Course Linebeck III is pretty much a lazy ass like his ancestor and loaded off the payment onto me. 5000 Rupees are owed and he has me now exploring Linebeck I's grave for a hidden treasure but its hard to get the hints correct since they involve precise movement and the Stylus controls are not always precise...

[Bubba]

I still can't play Majora's Mask after watching the Ben Drowned creepy pasta.

It looks pretty slick on the 3DS but I... just can't.

[Ayen]

I admit I skim a lot of stuff 'cause words. I'm going to focus on one thing at a time for simplicity.

Zelda 2 - Got quite a bit done actually. I attempted the fourth palace and while I died like a little bitch, I did manage to acquire the temples treasure, the Hover Boots that let me walk on certain plots of water. With them, I was able to acquire the third set of heart and magic containers, as well as another level!

Interesting. How did you get slaughtered in such a matter? Was it a problem on your part due to ignorance on how the palace and its enemies work, or a result of unfair difficulty on the part of the game design? How could either problem be resolved?

As for the Hover Boots, I love it. Whatever challenge you were faced with was worth it due to the rewards. I'm able to better appreciate these small things now. It's nice. What other ways have you found to utilize the Hover Boots within the game?

[Wolf Kanno]

Slaughter has more to do with my lack of skill with the games BS combat. The enemies are cheap but I have gotten better but dungeons are less puzzle and more gauntlet in this game. So I simply took way too much damage, lost some lives and I literally claimed the boots when the Blue Iron Knuckle I jumped past to get to it caught up with me.\

Most of the items in the game are fairly simple and many of them only work on the world map. The Hover Boots work on the map and you need them to reach the next palace. I also used them to reach one of the heart containers hidden in a hidden area of the ocean, but the shoes are fairly useless in all honesty. The candle has probably been the most useful since it will light up caves and let you actually see enemies in them.

Bubba: I actually made a second file and named it Ben Drowned.

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